2013 Book Reviews

A Talent for Trouble by Jen Turano & Giveaway (US/Canada)

November 21, 2013 by Darlene

A Talent for Trouble by Jen Turano is a charming romance and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Sometimes it is so nice to lose yourself in a book that is just light and a fun way to spend a few hours. I read it in a day because once I started I didn’t really want to put it down and also it never hurts to be reading a story that has you laughing quite often. A Talent for Trouble is apparently a part of a series but they look as though they are all stand alone novels and I’m certainly looking forward to reading the others in the future.

Felicia Murdock is no ordinary young lady in that she truly has a talent for finding trouble. The opening of the novel finds Felicia heartbroken as she has spent the last four years mooning over the minister thinking that she was to become his wife. When he marries another she decides to completely change things up since everything she’s being doing to this point doesn’t seem to be finding her a husband and at twenty-eight she’s running out of time. Felicia has finally decided that she needs to just be who she is and quit trying to be who and what everyone else needs her to be.

Into the picture steps Grayson Sumner who is actually a Lord but has been away from his family a long time. He’s come back to repair his relationship with his sister and begin to lead a more respectable life than he’s been living in the past. When he’s sent over to escort Felicia over to a luncheon he very likely has no idea what he’s in for but quickly realizes that Felicia is most definitely not your typical society lady but the last thing he needs is any more complications in his life.

Needless to say once he’s met Felicia one thing after another happens as Felicia manages to get herself in all kinds of trouble. However Grayson is not without his own troubles and soon enough the two are embroiled in a big mess. Along the way there are quite a few laughs and without a doubt it’ll keep you turning the pages to see if these two will indeed end up together.

I would recommend A Talent For Trouble to those who like fun romance reads with a great female lead character who is full of spunk and absolutely a magnet for trouble!

Other tour stops with TLC Book Tours
Jen’s website and Facebook Page
Download an excerpt
Buy at Amazon, Amazon Canada, and B&N

GIVEAWAY DETAILS (US/Canada)

I have one copy of A Talent for Trouble by Jen Turano up for giveaway to my readers. To enter…

For 1 entry leave me a comment entering the giveaway.
Tweet, share on Facebook, or blog for 2 extra entries.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents (no PO boxes) and I will draw for the winner on December 7/13. Good luck!

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher. No compensation was received for this review and all opinions are my own.

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The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani

November 19, 2013 by Darlene

I had never read a book by Adriana Trigiani before this past week. What I can say with absolute certainty was I was missing out big time! In preparation for her newest release The Supreme Macaroni Company and because it was the final book in a trilogy I took it upon myself to listen to the first two books, Very Valentine and Brava, Valentine, on audio. I devoured all three of these books and loved them! This trilogy has it all – family, drama, dreams built and fallen, but most of all love of family and friends.

It’s impossible not to put in a few spoilers talking about this book so if you’re one of those planning to read the books then you may not want to go further. The Supreme Macaroni Company picks right up where Brava, Valentine left off. Valentine is finally going to get married and her family couldn’t be more thrilled. A single thirty something Italian woman doesn’t go over so well in her family. That said she’s excited to finally be marrying Gianluca and start their lives together.

Life goes on and in true Roncalli fashion there is the usual family drama and bickering. Valentine continues on designing her shoes and working in her shoe company with Gianluca supporting her. He longs to return to Italy though but Valentine’s life is in New York. Will this eventually fracture their marriage? Is the eighteen year age difference and the resulting differences in what both Valentine and Gianluca want from each other and life a threat to their marriage? Or will none of that really matter when tragedy strikes and everything Valentine thought she knew about herself and life is sent spiralling out of control.

I really enjoyed this final book although I didn’t love the ending and truthfully I think there is at least one more book left in this story. These characters though have worked themselves into my heart in the process of reading these books and I already miss them terribly. I adore the Roncalli family and all their drama and reading their story made me wish for a big Italian family for myself. My only squabble is the title of the book. I don’t think this title does the book justice but for those who love the Valentine saga it won’t matter at all. I know it didn’t have any effect whatsoever on my love of this novel!

The Supreme Macaroni Company was a true winner for me as the whole trilogy was. I loved each book and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to those who love family sagas and women’s fiction.

Other tour stops with TLC Book Tours
Adriana’s website, Facebook, and Twitter
Buy at: Amazon, Amazon Canada, and B&N

Source: Review copy provided digitally by the publisher. No compensation was received for this review and all opinions are my own.

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The Theory of Opposites by Allison Winn Scotch (Audiobook)

November 14, 2013 by Darlene

I have been reading the novels of Allison Winn Scotch since I started blogging and I have loved them all. Her latest The Theory of Opposites ranks as one of my favorites – I double loved this one! Life is all about choices, owning your choices, and the courage to write your own map of life and then go and live it!

Willa is living a good life. She’s got a good career and a great husband in Shawn to the point that they call themselves ‘Shilla’ because they are so inseparable. Needless to say when Shawn hits her with the news that he’d like to take a two month separation from their marriage she is shocked and devastated. He proposes that they go on with their lives for these two months as though they were single. All I can say to that is one should be careful what they wish for…

At first Willa is lost and only wants Shawn back but between and old boyfriend Theo and her best friend Vanessa, Willa’s outlook is slowing changing. Vanessa gets a job writing for the reality show Dare You! and manages to convince Willa to tackle a few dares of her own. She wants Willa to stop listening to the universe and accepting that things happen for a reason as her father has taught her and take some risks and maybe take a different path or two that could have the power to change her life.

I felt connected to Willa from the first pages of this book. She’s vulnerable and uncertain in her journey in life just like so many of us are. Her husband Shawn needed a kick to his patoot but her brother Ollie was great. He is a yoga instructor to the stars but manages to get himself in hot water with his family trying to get him out of it. Her sister Raina had me laughing more than once as she popped her Xanax and then kept handing one over to Willa. They were just great characters who I really enjoyed spending some time with.

I listened to the audiobook of The Theory of Opposites which is narrated by Christine Traister. I’ve never listened to her before but I wouldn’t hesitate to again. She was fantastic with her different voices and all the emotions she put into each character. Just wonderful!

I loved The Theory of Opposites and would recommend it in a heartbeat to readers who enjoy women’s fiction. As with all of Allison’s novels this one leaves you asking yourself if life really is the old adage of ‘everything happens for a reason’ or is it all about the choices you make and what you do to make things happen for yourself?

Book Excerpt & Reading Guide
Allison’s website, Facebook, and Twitter
Buy at: Amazon, Amazon Canada, and B&N

Source: Audiobook from my personal library.

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The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

November 12, 2013 by Darlene

In The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell the opening is sure to grab your attention…

“Today is Christmas Eve. Today is my birthday. Today I am fifteen. Today I buried my parents in the backyard. Neither of them were beloved. “

Marnie and Nelly come from one of the most dysfunctional families I’ve ever read about. Their mom Izzy was a drunk and neglected her girls and their father Gene was a druggie and an awful person. The girls are much better off without the both of them but now there is the problem of staying under the radar so that they aren’t put into foster care. Neither of them wants that. They want to stay together. Burying their parents in the backyard was their only solution. Until their neighbor Lennie begins to get suspicious.

Now Lennie has his own bad reputation in the neighborhood to deal with. He is a gay man but that’s not the issue. The issue is he was caught doing something he shouldn’t have been doing. I was prepared to fully despise this man and yet I couldn’t. He took the girls under his wing and cared for them the best he could. Then there is Vlado who is another man wanting to help them but he’s a drug dealer. Eventually, despite their best efforts to keep everything secret, all the lies come out and they end up at their Gramps house. There are reasons the girl’s mother was how she was and the girls may be in even more danger at his house than anywhere else.

I guess I’m in the middle with this book. The beginning threw me off some but by the middle I found I couldn’t put it down and needed to know how everything would turn out. It is a very dark story which in itself doesn’t bother me nor does the bad language throughout. Maybe it was because I didn’t feel a connection with the girls although I really liked Nelly. She is considered slow and yet for all her slowness she seemed to be the more level headed of the girls and she could be quite amusing amid the darker side of this novel. Ultimately this book held my interest. It is gritty, raw, and real and yet shows the resilience and hope of the human spirit.

Check out the other tour stops with TLC Book Tours
Lisa’s website, Facebook, and Twitter
Buy at: Amazon, Amazon Canada, and B&N

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher. No compensation was received for this review and all opinions are my own.

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Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

November 11, 2013 by Darlene

Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson is the She Reads Book Club selection for November. This is my first book, well technically my second by Joshilyn Jackson as I listened to the prequel to this novel My Own Miraculous the other day and it was awesome especially with Jackson narrating it herself. What I will say is how crazy am I to have waited this long to read the work of this amazing writer! Someone Else’s Love Story is a mix of love, destiny, and of learning who you are and what you ultimately want from life.

Shandi makes the decision to move to her father’s condo in Atlanta and finish up college and her father has promised the best schools for her son Nathan – nicknamed Natty. Natty is three years old and he’s a genius. She’s excited at the prospect of a new future until, on the way there, she and Natty find themselves in a store during a robbery. Also in the store is one of the most amazing men Shandi has ever seen who ends up getting shot in the process of trying to protect everyone. Shandi is already imagining a future with William and when he’s laid out on the floor and whispers destiny to her she’s hooked…but did this destiny involve her or someone else?

The one thing the robbery did for Shandi was make her realize that she had to stop being weak and face her own life head on. She still has so many questions about the night Natty was conceived. She tries to take charge of William’s care but his best friend Paula keeps shoving her away, telling her that William could never love her. On the flip side her best friend Walcott has started to act strange. They have been best friends for forever and it’s not like him to be so angry and discouraging of her friendship with William. As we all know though things are never as they seem and that most certainly fits for all these characters. There are a number of things going on in the background of everyone’s lives and it’s just a matter of time before it all explodes in one big emotional heap.

There were a few characters in this novel that I absolutely adored with the first being Natty. Hearing his little three year old self say adult things was the cutest thing and I just felt this need to protect this little guy myself. The men in this novel, both Walcott and William, were awesome. Walcott is the poetry spouting type while William is the big strong man, yet each is attractive in his own way. I liked Shandi but she grated on my nerves a bit although I very much admired that even at a young age she protected her son with everything she had. Then there was Paula, Williams’s best friend who just made me laugh.

Someone Else’s Love Story is full of great characters and a story that really made me think about love stories. It doesn’t have to be a man/woman type of love. There are many others … parent/child, furbabies/parents, the relationship we may have with God and likely many more. It also makes us think about whether love is just destiny or does it all boil down to some scientific explanation? For me, I don’t think so. I still like to believe in destiny and miracles. Someone Else’s Love Story is a great pick for book clubs and for anyone else looking for a charming, heart felt story that has some unexpected twists in it!

Check out other thoughts on the book over at She Reads

Joshyilyn’s website, Facebook, and Twitter
Buy at: Amazon, Amazon Canada, and B&N

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher. No compensation was received for this review and all opinions are my own.

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We Are Water by Wally Lamb (Audiobook)

November 8, 2013 by Darlene

We Are Water is Wally Lamb’s latest masterpiece. I’ve read several of his novels and this one is no different tackling issues that others may not. He writes in such a way that he sucks the reader into the world he’s built and whether good or bad you can’t stop reading. We Are Water is no exception. It is an excellent novel and the audiobook version is amazing. In We Are Water, Wally Lamb has woven a complicated and intricate tale of an American family and the tragedies of the secrets they keep.

Orion Oh, a psychologist, thinks that life is going along quite smoothly until his wife of twenty-seven years tells him she’s leaving him and marrying a woman. Neither he nor their three children, Ariana and her twin Andrew and Marissa, understand what is going on with Anna and Andrew especially does not approve of her relationship with Viveca. To top it off Anna wants to be married in their hometown of Three Rivers in Connecticut. Even though Orion is angry about the whole situation he still loves Anna and wants the best for her.

The wedding and breakup up of their family unearths a lot of emotions for the Oh family. With the book being told from various perspectives we get to see both the past and present of the characters. We see that Anna has suffered great tragedy as a youngster and that it has manifested itself in different ways as an adult. The secrets she has kept – dark, disturbing, and painful – have had a rippling effect on her own family. Consequently her marriage and her children have also suffered. We learn that Orion’s father was not a presence in his life and how it has affected him as well as his anger at himself for not always seeing what was happening in his own home. We see how the children have coped as kids with a sometimes unstable environment and as adults with their mother leaving her marriage for a woman.

This novel explores many issues and some make it difficult to continue reading. Yet these issues make up the reasons for the dysfunction that is surrounding this family. There are other issues tackled as well like gay marriage and homophobia, racial issues, and abuse of children. Again some of these are extremely hard to read about but they tie into the telling of this novel in a huge way. While there are difficult themes in this novel there is also forgiveness, hope, and a love that is enduring through the good times and bad.

I listened to the audiobook of We Are Water which is narrated by some pretty awesome narrators including Wally Lamb who is the voice of Orion and he is a great narrator and perfect for that character. Along with Wally Lamb the other narrators include George Guidall, Maggie-Meg Reed, Tavia Gilbert, Richard Ferrone, Edoardo Ballerini, Cynthia Darlow, and Therese Plummer. This audiobook comes alive in your mind like a movie production and for me it was so well done! We Are Water comes highly recommended!

Other tour stops with TLC Book Tours
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Buy at: Amazon, Amazon Canada, and B&N

Source: Audiobook from my own personal library.

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