Monthly Archives: June 2016

In Twenty Years

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Author: Allison Winn Scotch   twenty years
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Fiction
Source: BEA 2016

 

 

Goodreads:  Twenty years ago, six Penn students shared a house, naively certain that their friendships would endure—until the death of their ringleader and dear friend Bea splintered the group for good. Now, mostly estranged from one another, the remaining five reluctantly gather at that same house on the eve of what would have been Bea’s fortieth birthday.

But along with the return of the friends come old grudges, unrequited feelings, and buried secrets. Catherine, the CEO of a domestic empire, and Owen, a stay-at-home dad, were picture-perfect college sweethearts—but now teeter on the brink of disaster. Lindy, a well-known musician, is pushing middle age in an industry that’s all about youth and slowly self-destructing as she grapples with her own identity. Behind his smile, handsome plastic surgeon Colin harbors the heartbreaking truth about his own history with Bea. And Annie carefully curates her life on Instagram and Facebook, keeping up appearances so she doesn’t have to face the truth about her own empty reality.

Reunited in the place where so many dreams began, and bolstered by the hope of healing, each of them is forced to confront the past.

Ope’s Opinion:  These five friends are the most sad and dysfunctional group of people.  No one is this group is satisfied with how their lives are twenty years out of college. Getting back together brought out all their old feelings toward each other.

This particular story wasn’t relateable to me.  There wasn’t a character that I really identified with or was rooting for.  Lindy was especially annoying and self-centered.

The ending brought some things to an end, but it didn’t really wrap it up.  It left me wondering where they were each going to be another twenty years.

Let just add that if foul language is offensive or irritating to you, this book was full of it.

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Coming Soon…

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…. On a Bookshelf near you!

In July I hope to read….

The Perfect Neighbors

Publication Date: July 5, 2016
Publisher: Washington Square Press

Goodreads: Perfect Neighbors takes us into the homes of an idyllic suburban neighborhood where we discover the burning secrets hiding just below the surface.

Bucolic Newport Cove, where spontaneous block parties occur on balmy nights and all of the streets are named for flowers, is proud of its distinction of being named one the top twenty safest neighborhoods in the US.

It’s also one of the most secret-filled.

Kellie Scott has just returned to work after a decade of being a stay-at-home mom. She’s adjusting to high heels, scrambling to cook dinner for her family after a day at the office—and soaking in the dangerous attention of a very handsome, very married male colleague. Kellie’s neighbor Susan Barrett begins every day with fresh resolutions: she won’t eat any carbs. She’ll go to bed at a reasonable hour. And she’ll stop stalking her ex-husband and his new girlfriend. Gigi Kennedy seems to have it all together—except her teenage daughter has turned into a hostile stranger and her husband is running for Congress, which means her old skeletons are in danger of being brought into the light.

Then a new family moves to this quiet, tree-lined cul-de-sac. Tessa Campbell seems friendly enough to the other mothers, if a bit reserved. Then the neighbors notice that no one is ever invited to Tessa’s house. And soon, it becomes clear Tessa is hiding the biggest secret of all.

What is coming soon …. to a bookshelf near you?

Let me know – I am always looking for a good read!

Under a Summer Sky

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under a summer sky

Author: Nan Rossiter
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: BEA 2015

Goodreads:  New York Times bestselling author Nan Rossiter transports readers to Cape Cod with a warm, compelling story of family, new beginnings, and finding the courage to love honestly and well…The old Cape Cod house that Laney Coleman shares with her minister husband Noah and their five boys is usually brimming with cheerful chaos. There’s nothing fancy about the ancient kitchen or the wooden floors scuffed by the constant parade of activity and the clicking claws of their two Labrador retrievers. It’s a place to savor the sea breeze wafting through the windows, or sip coffee on the porch before another hectic day begins. This summer, life promises to be even busier than usual, because Noah’s younger brother, Micah, wants to hold his upcoming wedding on their property.
Though thrilled that Micah has found happiness after past heartache, Laney is apprehensive about having her home turned upside down. She has other concerns too–her youngest son is being bullied at school, and Noah’s father is not the robust patriarch he once was, in mind or body. As the bride and groom’s large, close-knit families gather, there will be joyful celebration but also unexpected sorrows and revelations, and a chance to store up a lifetime of memories during the fleeting, precious days of summer…

Ope’s Opinion:  Even though this book is about a family who is centered on God, it was not preachy.  There were several sermons in the book, but it felt like Noah was telling a story about his family, not preaching at me.  

Most of the book was about this family and their every day issues, relationships and situations they were dealing with.  I felt for each of them, I could relate to them and I wanted them to be happy.  I also loved how they all had dogs and those dogs were a large part of the story.

I love how BEA introduces me to authors ( new to me ) that I then want to go find more books by them to read.  This is one of those books.

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This Just In….

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From Kristin of Kritters Ramblings

sleepless

Published: May 31, 2016
Publisher: HQN Books

Goodreads:  USA TODAY bestselling author Sarah Morgan introduces a sizzling new trilogy about three best friends embracing life—and love—in Manhattan 

Cool, calm and competent, events planner Paige Walker loves a challenge. After a childhood spent in and out of hospitals, she’s now determined to prove herself—and where better to take the world by storm than in the exhilarating bustle of Manhattan? But when Paige is let go from the job she loves, she must face her biggest challenge of all—going it alone.

Except launching her own events company is nothing compared to hiding her outrageous crush on Jake Romano—her brother’s best friend, New York’s most in-demand date, and the only man to break her heart. When Jake offers Paige’s fledgling company a big chance, their still-sizzling chemistry starts giving her sleepless nights. But can she convince the man who trusts no one to take a chance on forever?

This sounds like a really fun read!

griddley girls

Publication Date: June 21, 2016
Publisher: Sparkpress

Goodreads: Sometimes you have to go back before you can move forward. Meg Monahan was born to be a secret keeper. From the moment she became a peer counselor in high school, Meg has been keeping her friends secrets from sordid family drama to their sex lives that she never wanted to know. Flash forward to adulthood when Meg is a recruiter for the world s hippest (and most paranoid) high-tech company and now Meg is a professional secret keeper. When sudden tragedy strikes before Meg hosts the wedding of her childhood BFF, Anne Calzaretta, the women are forced to face their past and their secrets in order to move on to their future. In 1978, Meg, Anne, Jennifer, and Tonya were such close friends, they were known as The Group in their hometown of Gridley, California. But in ninth grade, their lives were changed forever. Loss, lies, and secrets separated them, but could not break their bonds of friendship. Thirty years later, Meg and Anne reminisce about those days dealing with parents, school, boys, sex, love, and betrayal. Anne remembers their freshman year as an easier time, but Meg, still feeling guilty about a betrayal of Anne s trust, is haunted. Even now, Meg is keeping a secret she s not prepared to face, let alone share. In her debut novel, based on true events, Meredith First tells a timeless story about the bonds of friendship, loss, and betrayal and the forgiveness that is within everyone. Can anyone really keep a secret forever?”

This looks like a good friendship book.

meternityPublished: April 26, 2016
Publisher: Mira

Goodreads:  Not quite knocked up… 

Like everyone in New York media, editor Liz Buckley runs on cupcakes, caffeine and cocktails. But at thirty-one, she’s plateaued at Paddy Cakes, a glossy baby magazine that flogs thousand-dollar strollers to entitled, hypercompetitive spawn-havers.

Liz has spent years working a gazillion hours a week picking up the slack for coworkers with kids, and she’s tired of it. So one day when her stress-related nausea is mistaken for morning sickness by her bosses—boom! Liz is promoted to the mommy track. She decides to run with it and plans to use her paid time off to figure out her life: work, love and otherwise. It’ll be her “meternity” leave.

By day, Liz rocks a foam-rubber belly under fab maternity outfits. By night, she dumps the bump for karaoke nights and boozy dinners out. But how long can she keep up her charade…and hide it from the guy who might just be The One?

As her “due date” approaches, Liz is exhausted—and exhilarated—by the ruse, the guilt and the feelings brought on by a totally fictional belly-tenant…about happiness, success, family and the nature of love.

Just the cover makes you stop and want to read this one.

one true love

Published:  June 7, 2016
Published:  Washington Square Press

Goodreads:  From the author of Maybe in Another Life—named a People Magazine pick and a “Best Book of the Summer” by Glamour and USA Today—comes a breathtaking new love story about a woman unexpectedly forced to choose between the husband she has long thought dead and the fiancé who has finally brought her back to life.

In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.

On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.

Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.

That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.

Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?

Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.

Anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid is worth the read!

sunshine beach

Publication Date: June 21, 2016
Publisher: Berkley

Goodreads: In this brand-new summer read by the USA Today bestselling author of The House on Mermaid Point, three women join forces to bring a historic seaside hotel back to life…
 
There’s nothing that a fresh coat of paint and a few glasses of wine can’t fix…
 
After losing their life savings in a Ponzi scheme, Maddie, Avery, and Nikki have banded together to make the most of what they have left, using their determination, ingenuity, guts, and a large dose of elbow grease. It’s Maddie’s daughter Kyra who stumbles across a once glorious beachfront hotel that has fallen into disrepair. The opportunity to renovate this seaside jewel is too good to pass up—especially when they come up with the idea of shooting their own independent television show about the restoration. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything. With the cameras rolling, Maddie’s second-chance romance with her all-too-famous new boyfriend gets complicated, Avery struggles with grief over the loss of her mother, and Nikki’s reluctance to commit to the man who loves her could leave her to face the biggest challenge of her life. Even the hotel seems to be against them, when their renovation uncovers a decades-old unsolved murder which just might bring their lives tumbling down all over again…

Thanks to Kristin for all these great books to read this summer!!

First Comes Love

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Author: Emily Giffin         love comes first
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: BEA 2016

 

Goodreads:  In this dazzling new novel, Emily Giffin, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed, Where We Belong, and The One & Only introduces a pair of sisters who find themselves at a crossroads.

Growing up, Josie and Meredith Garland shared a loving, if sometimes contentious relationship. Josie was impulsive, spirited, and outgoing; Meredith hardworking, thoughtful, and reserved. When tragedy strikes their family, their different responses to the event splinter their delicate bond.

Fifteen years later, Josie and Meredith are in their late thirties, following very different paths. Josie, a first grade teacher, is single—and this close to swearing off dating for good. What she wants more than the right guy, however, is to become a mother—a feeling that is heightened when her ex-boyfriend’s daughter ends up in her class. Determined to have the future she’s always wanted, Josie decides to take matters into her own hands.

On the outside, Meredith is the model daughter with the perfect life. A successful attorney, she’s married to a wonderful man, and together they’re raising a beautiful four-year-old daughter. Yet lately, Meredith feels dissatisfied and restless, secretly wondering if she chose the life that was expected of her rather than the one she truly desired.

As the anniversary of their tragedy looms and painful secrets from the past begin to surface, Josie and Meredith must not only confront the issues that divide them, but also come to terms with their own choices. In their journey toward understanding and forgiveness, both sisters discover they need each other more than they knew . . . and that in the recipe for true happiness, love always comes first.

Emotionally honest and utterly enthralling, First Comes Love is a story about family, friendship, and the courage to follow your own heart—wherever that may lead.

Ope’s Opinion:  Emily Giffin hits it out of the park again!  She is an amazing story weaver!  Her characters are well developed and you care about them. 

Josie and Meredith take turns tell their story in alternating chapters.  It always amazes me how two different people can see the same event very differently and react to in completely different ways.  Being sisters and being raised the same household doesn’t mean you agree and Emily Giffin showed that throughout this book.

This is not your typical summer read, I feel like it was a deeper story line with characters who are really struggling to figure out what their lives should look like.  It is a family drama story, not just a love story.

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Riverbend Road

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Author: RaeAnne Thayne                                  river
Publisher: HQN Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: Little Bird Publicity

 

 

Goodreads:  Return to Haven Point, where New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne proves there’s no sweeter place to fall in love

Protecting the streets of Haven Point isn’t just a job for police officer Wyn Bailey, it’s a family tradition. But lately she’s found herself wanting more, especially from her boss—and overprotective brother’s best friend—sexy chief of police, Cade Emmett. The only problem is getting Cade to view her as more than just a little sister.

Cade’s hands-off approach with Wyn isn’t from lack of attraction. But his complicated past has forced him to conceal his desire. When Wyn is harmed in the line of duty, Cade realizes the depth of his feelings, but can he let his guard down long enough to embrace the love he secretly craves?

Ope’s Opinion:  This is the fourth in the Haven Point series, but you could read this one alone.  Characters from previous books are visited, but you don’t need to know them to enjoy this book. 

Riverbend Road is enjoyably predictable.  There are a few new things revealed along the way, but you know how it will end.  It was a sweet read.

The slow build of Wyn and Cade’s relationship made the book a delight to read.  I liked that they were friends for a long time and didn’t act on their feelings until they were older.  I also liked that the physical part of their relationship was not the focal point.

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This Just In….

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These books are from HarperCollins.

commonwealth

Publication Date:  September 13, 2016
Publisher:  Harper

Goodreads:  One Sunday afternoon in Southern California, Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited. Before evening falls, he has kissed Franny’s mother, Beverly—thus setting in motion the dissolution of their marriages and the joining of two families.

Spanning five decades, Commonwealth explores how this chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved. Spending summers together in Virginia, the Keating and Cousins children forge a lasting bond that is based on a shared disillusionment with their parents and the strange and genuine affection that grows up between them.

When, in her twenties, Franny begins an affair with the legendary author Leon Posen and tells him about her family, the story of her siblings is no longer hers to control. Their childhood becomes the basis for his wildly successful book, ultimately forcing them to come to terms with their losses, their guilt, and the deeply loyal connection they feel for one another.

Told with equal measures of humor and heartbreak, Commonwealth is a meditation on inspiration, interpretation, and the ownership of stories. It is a brilliant and tender tale of the far-reaching ties of love and responsibility that bind us together.

First saw this on HarperCollins BEA pre-view – been wanting it since then!!

family treePublication Date: August 9, 2016
Publisher: William Morrow

Goodreads: or readers of Kristin Hannah and Jodi Picoult comes a powerful, emotionally complex story of love, loss, the pain of the past—and the promise of the future.

Sometimes the greatest dream starts with the smallest element. A single cell, joining with another. And then dividing. And just like that, the world changes.

Annie Harlow knows how lucky she is. The producer of a popular television cooking show, she loves her handsome husband and the beautiful Manhattan home they share. And now, she’s pregnant with their first child.

But in an instant, her life is shattered. And when Annie awakes from a year-long coma, she discovers that time isn’t the only thing she’s lost.

Grieving and wounded, Annie retreats to her old family home in Switchback, Vermont, a maple farm generations old. There, surrounded by her free-spirited brother, their divorced mother, and four young nieces and nephews, Annie slowly emerges into a world she left behind years ago: the town where she grew up, the people she knew before, the high-school boyfriend turned ex-cop. And with the discovery of a cookbook her grandmother wrote in the distant past, Annie unearths an age-old mystery that might prove the salvation of the family farm.

Family Tree is the story of one woman’s triumph over betrayal, and how she eventually comes to terms with her past. It is the story of joys unrealized and opportunities regained. Complex, clear-eyed and big-hearted, funny, sad, and wise, it is a novel to cherish and to remember.

I am a fan of Susan Wiggs, so I am looking forward to this one.

THANK YOU HARPERCOLLINS!!

Never Always Sometimes

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never

Author: Adi Alsaid
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Source:  BEA 2015

Goodreads: 

Never date your best friend.


Always be original.Sometimes rules are meant to be broken.

Best friends Dave and Julia were determined to never be cliché high school kids—the ones who sit at the same lunch table every day, dissecting the drama from homeroom and plotting their campaigns for prom king and queen. They even wrote their own Never List of everything they vowed they’d never, ever do in high school.

Some of the rules have been easy to follow, like #5, never dye your hair a color of the rainbow, or #7, never hook up with a teacher. But Dave has a secret: he’s broken rule #8, never pine silently after someone for the entirety of high school. It’s either that or break rule #10, never date your best friend. Dave has loved Julia for as long as he can remember.

Julia is beautiful, wild and impetuous. So when she suggests they do every Never on the list, Dave is happy to play along. He even dyes his hair an unfortunate shade of green. It starts as a joke, but then a funny thing happens: Dave and Julia discover that by skipping the clichés, they’ve actually been missing out on high school. And maybe even on love.

Ope’s Opinion:  This is a quirky book.  It started out a little slow.  Getting to know the characters took a little too long for me.  Some of the “nevers” weren’t really interesting and a couple were inappropriate.  It was an interesting way to tell a love story.
This love story will definitely surprise you.  It has two large twists that I did not see coming at all.  I liked the way it went.  I also liked the way it ended.
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Blogaversary

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Happy 4th year of blogging!!

 

I do like to review what I have done this past year at this time.
I also like to look forward to see where I want to go with this blog.

It has been a bumpy year.
We had to move twice and built a house.
So my reading was not as consistent.

At times I wasn’t sure I could keep up with this blog
the way I thought it should be.
My daughters kept encouraging me.

Then I went to BEA and was rejuvenated!
Seeing all the great books coming out, the wonderful bloggers,
and a wonderful author ( Steena Holmes ) made me not to
only keep going, but improve this blog.

Here’s To Us

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Author: Elin Hilderbrand                                here
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Fiction
Source: BEA 2016

 

Goodreads:  Three romantic rivals. One crowded house. Plenty of room for jealousy.

Laurel Thorpe, Belinda Rowe, and Scarlett Oliver share only two things; a love for the man they all married, Deacon Thorpe–a celebrity chef with an insatiable appetite for life–and a passionate dislike of one another. All three are remarkable, spirited women, but they couldn’t be more different. Laurel: Deacon’s high school sweetheart and an effortlessly beautiful social worker; Belinda: a high-maintenance Hollywood diva; and Scarlett: a sexy southern belle floating by on her family money and her fabulous looks. They’ve established a delicate understanding over the years–they avoid each other at all costs.

But their fragile detente threatens to come crashing down after Deacon’s tragic death on his favorite place on earth: a ramshackle Nantucket summer cottage. Deacon’s final wish was for his makeshift family to assemble on his beloved Nantucket to say good-bye. Begrudgingly, Laurel, Belinda, and Scarlett gather on the island as once again, as in each of their marriages, they’re left to pick up Deacon’s mess. Now they’re trapped in the crowded cottage where they all made their own memories–a house that they now share in more ways than one–along with the children they raised with Deacon, and his best friend. Laurel, Belinda, and Scarlett each had an unbreakable bond with Deacon–and they all have secrets to hide.

Before the weekend is over, there are enough accusations, lies, tears, and drama to turn even the best of friends–let alone three women who married the same man–into adversaries. As his unlikely family says good-bye to the man who brought them
together–for better or worse–will they be able to put aside their differences long enough to raise a glass in Deacon’s honor?

Ope’s Opinion:  This book read like a day time soap opera.  There were multiple marriages, affairs, drug abuse, lies, and drama all over the place.  The Nantucket house never saw a dull moment.

Laurel was the only character that I had some sympathy toward and had some moral standards.  Angie blindly loved her father and I understood how she had difficulty with relationships – she was watching all the other females in her life, who weren’t able to give her a decent road map.

The chapter before the epilogue wrapped up everyone’s story.  The epilogue went back to Deacon’s story.

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