Tag Archives: Women’s Fiction

The One & Only

Posted on by
Reply

the one and only

 

Author: Emily Giffin
Publisher:  Ballantine Books
Genre:  Women’s Fiction
Source:  BookSparks

Goodreads:   In her eagerly awaited new novel, beloved New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin returns with an extraordinary story of love and loyalty—and an unconventional heroine struggling to reconcile both.

Thirty-three-year-old Shea Rigsby has spent her entire life in Walker, Texas—a small college town that lives and dies by football, a passion she unabashedly shares. Raised alongside her best friend, Lucy, the daughter of Walker’s legendary head coach, Clive Carr, Shea was too devoted to her hometown team to leave. Instead she stayed in Walker for college, even taking a job in the university athletic department after graduation, where she has remained for more than a decade.

But when an unexpected tragedy strikes the tight-knit Walker community, Shea’s comfortable world is upended, and she begins to wonder if the life she’s chosen is really enough for her. As she finally gives up her safety net to set out on an unexpected path, Shea discovers unsettling truths about the people and things she has always trusted most—and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears, and secrets.

Thoughtful, funny, and brilliantly observed, The One & Only is a luminous novel about finding your passion, following your heart, and, most of all, believing in something bigger than yourself . . . the one and only thing that truly makes life worth living.

Ope’s Opinion:  I have heard this book compared to Friday Night Lights.  I agree with this!  If you liked the show, football, and Texas, you will probably want to read this story.  It took me a while to get into this book – there was a lot of back ground you need to understand the relationships between the people and football to enjoy the rest of the story.

The friendship between Lucy and Shea was strong and wonderful.  It was great to see one friend who wanted the family and kids, while another was more into the career, yet they remained close friends their whole lives.

The romance relationships in this book were not my favorite.  I think Shea was smart enough to get out of a bad relationship, but I didn’t really care for the relationship she end up in.  I would have liked the ending to have been different.

Rating: Four Chairs – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.
de9fc-4chairs

Recipe for a Happy Life

Posted on by
Reply

Author:  Brenda Janowitz               recipe
Publisher:  St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre:  Women’s Fiction
Source:  Author

 

 

 

Goodreads:  There’s more than one recipe for a happy life.

Hannah Goodman doesn’t grow up like most kids on the Upper East side. Her mother, Gray, is an award-winning photojournalist with little time for the banalities of child-rearing, and when she’s not jetting off to follow the latest scoop, she’s camped out at the Hotel Chelsea. The closest thing Hannah’s got to a traditional matriarch is her grandmother—a glamorous widow six times over with a sprawling Hampton’s estate. But Gray is determined that her daughter resist the siren song of the trust fund set, and make her own way in the world. So Hannah does just that—becoming a successful lawyer in New York City, and dating a handsome musician. Hannah has it all, or so it seems, until one hot June day the carefully constructed pieces of her life break apart. When she throws it all in and seeks solace at her grandmother’s estate, she discovers that where happiness is concerned, you don’t have to stick to the recipe.

Ope’s Opinion:  If you like family relationship books – you will really like this one!  It has a very deep loving relationship between granddaughter and grandmother.  There is a difficult relationship between mother and daughter.  There are some romantic relationships as well.  

The writing sweeps you away to the Hamptons – I did not want to come back!  You can see the houses as she describes them.  You can hear the waves hit the beach.  Janowitz draws a beautiful picture with her words.

I love strong women characters.  This grandmother was so much fun to read – everyone should have someone like her in their lives.

I want to read another Brenda Janowitz book.

Rating:  Four Chairs – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.
de9fc-4chairs

Four Friends

Posted on by
1

Author:  Robyn Carr                        four
Publisher:  Mira Books
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source:  Little Bird Publicity

 

 

 

 

 

Goodreads:   Gerri can’t decide what’s more devastating: learning her rock-solid marriage has big cracks, or the anger she feels as she tries to repair the damage. Always the anchor for friends and her three angst-ridden teenagers, it’s time to look carefully at herself. The journey for Gerri and her family is more than revealing—it’s transforming.

Andy doesn’t have a great track record with men, and she’s come to believe that for her a lasting love is out of reach. When she finds herself attracted to her down-to-earth, ordinary contractor—a man without any of the qualities that usually appeal to her—she questions everything she thought she wanted in life.

Sonja’s lifelong pursuit of balance is shattered when her husband declares he’s through with her New Age nonsense and walks out. There’s no herbal tonic or cleansing ritual that can restore her serenity—or her sanity.

Miraculously, it’s BJ, the reserved newcomer to Mill Valley, who steps into their circle and changes everything. The woman with dark secrets opens up to her neighbors, and together they get each other back on track, stronger as individuals and unfaltering as friends.

Ope’s Opinion:  I really enjoy reading books about female friendships.  I expect conflict and difficulties, but I think this was a bit over the top.  All the friends were having issues at the beginning.  It was a little overwhelming to keep it all straight.  

I do love the friendships that were built in this book.  It is great to see women who support each other – not talk behind each others back and tear each other apart.   These women encouraged each other to figure out what would be best for themselves.  They accepted each other with their differences.  I like strong women characters.

 Robyn Carr is one of my go-to authors.  When I read one of her books, I am usually in for a good read full of great characters.  This book just didn’t live up to her usual standards.  It was a little too sad for me.  After saying that, I will tell you, I will read her next book because she has many more hits then misses.

I will read Robyn Carr again and again.

Rating:  Three Chairs – I like the book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.
3 chairs

 

Daring Chloe

Posted on by
Reply

Author: Laura Jensen Walker                                chloe
Publisher:  Zondervan
Genre:  Christian Fiction
Source:  Purchased

Goodreads:   When Chloe Adams’ fiance dumps her—the night before their wedding—two girlfriends from her book group decide a little adventure is in order for the three of them. After all, why let a perfectly good honeymoon cruise go to waste?Adventure? Chloe Adams? No way! Chloe’s lived in one town her whole life. The closest she’s ever gotten to actual adventures is reading about them. But her girlfriends won’t take no for an answer.One good adventure calls for another as Chloe’s friends try to coax her out of her post-dumping funk, and soon she finds herself living out the adventures in her book club’s latest selections. Hiking. Sailing. River rafting. Traveling to new places and eating exotic food. The play-it-safe Chloe begins to blossom into a new, daring Chloe. A Chloe who just might be ready to take on her biggest adventure of all …Laura Jensen Walker has a knack for quirky heroines and real-life humor. In Chloe, she’s created another memorable character who will live on in readers’ hearts.

Ope’s Opinion:  This is the first of three books in this series.  It is Christian fiction, but not over the top. Each characters faith was apart of the story, but not the center of the whole story.  I thought Laura Jensen Walker portrayed real characters.  I like that she introduced all three characters in the first book.  It gave you insights into each of  their personalities.

The Paris trip took a little longer then I would have liked.  For me a little description goes a long way in a museum.

It was nice that Chloe ( the focus of this book ) did not find a guy, but found out what she wanted in life.  It was nice to see a different ending to a book.

Rating:  Four Chairs – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.

de9fc-4chairs

Two of a Kind

Posted on by
2

Author:  Yona Zeldis McDonough                two of a kind
Publisher: NAL Trade
Pages: 448
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: Edelweiss

Goodreads:  Ten years after losing her husband, Christina Connelly has worked through the pain, focusing on raising her teenage daughter and managing her small decorating business. But her romantic life has never recovered. Still, it’s irksome to be set up with arrogant, if handsome, doctor Andy Stern at her friend’s wedding. If he wasn’t also a potential client, needing his Upper East Side apartment redesigned, she would write him off.

This is never going to work, Andy thinks. Still grieving his wife and struggling with a troubled son, he’s not looking for a woman, and certainly not someone as frosty and reserved as Christina. Their relationship will be strictly business. Yet to everyone’s surprise—including their own—these two find themselves falling in love.

But if reconciling with their pasts is difficult, blending their lives and children to create a new family is nearly impossible. They’ve been given a second chance…but can they overcome all the obstacles in the way of happily ever after?

Ope’s Opinion:  I think this story shows that you never know where you might meet someone.  You also might be surprised by who that person could be.  Being very similar or very different, works depending on the two people.  These two characters in this story are very different, but it works for them.

At first I did not care for Andy.  Yona wrote him in such a way that I thought he was self centered and arrogant.    Some times I felt like he was doing things on his own terms without taking other people into consideration.  He grew on me as the story moved along.

Christina was a strong independent woman.  I liked that she had her own business and was doing fine on her own before she met Andy. She suddenly changed her mind ( no details – I don’t want to spoil the story ) towards the end of the book without an event to spark the change.  It seemed like it was out of no where.

I felt like the end was a little abrupt.  There were a lot of questions that I felt were left unanswered.

I will read another book by Yona Zeldis McDonough.

Rating:  Four Chairs – I like this book so much I know several friends to share it with.
de9fc-4chairs