Waterstones Synopsis:
“Untamed”: Jo Wilder was certain her charming new boss, Keane Prescott, imperilled everything she cared for, but she couldn’t deny the attraction between them. Though Keane’s kisses left her breathless, it was his tenderness that threatened to tame her heart…
“Less of a Stranger”: Confident and arrogant, David Katcherton swept into Megan Miller’s life and awakened feelings that had long been lying dormant. But she wasn’t about to fall for this irresistible stranger who was after her grandfather’s business, despite the passion Katch aroused within her…
This is two books in one – both romantic short stories, and both I really enjoyed. This is the second Nora Roberts book I’ve read, and again I finished the book feeling satisfied. The first short story is called “Untamed” and it is based in the circus. The owner has just died and left the circus to his son, whom he had had no contact with for most of the son Keane’s life. Jo, the protagonist is worried that Keane will sell the circus and has disliked him since before his Dad’s death. Yet things change when she meets him. The chemistry is instant and distracting… The second story is called “Less of a Stranger” and is shorter than Untamed. The feature of this novel is a fairground. Megan has grown up with her grandfather, who owns the fairground. She is worried when a stranger – Katch comes along and tries to buy it. Although the fairground is only just making a profit, Megan does not want to see it go. Along with that, Katch is determined not only to have the fairground, he is determined to have Megan too; and she is finding it hard to resist falling for him…
If you like chick-lit and quick-reads than this book is for you. Both of these stories were good and I enjoyed them both immensely. I probably preferred Untamed more as it was a bit longer so I felt I engaged with the characters more. However, both were very good. They were predictable but I didn’t mind that. And I liked how they had unusual settings for romance novels. I loved reading about the circus and the lions in Untamed, and reading the descriptions of the fairground was lovely too. One of my favourite parts was when Katch and Megan were on top of the Ferris wheel looking down at the fun and lights below.
I liked both Jo and Megan. They were determined and prepared to stand up for what they believed in and what they felt was right. I loved the affection they had for others, such as Megan for her grandfather, and I enjoyed reading how they pursued what was right. I liked the outcomes for both them too. I found them likeable and believabl.
These were not hard to read. I was hooked from the beginning and enjoyed both stories. Roberts wrote wonderful characters and although the outcomes were not a surprise I liked how she picked original settings, making a great story. This was not a let down and I would highly recommend this book.
4/5
Waterstone’s Synopsis:
From the internationally bestselling author of PS, I Love You and Where Rainbows End comes an enchanting novel — with more than a little magic! What if love was right there in front of you — you just couldn’t see it? Elizabeth Egan is too busy for friends. As a reluctant mother to her sister Saoirse’s young son Luke and with her own business to run, every precious moment is made to count. But with Saoirse crashing in and out of their lives, leaving both her sister and her son reeling, Luke and Elizabeth are desperately in need of some magic. Enter Ivan. Wild, spontaneous and always looking for adventure, in no time at all Ivan has changed Elizabeth in ways she could never have imagined. But is Ivan too good to be true? Has Elizabeth opened her heart only to risk it being broken again? As for Ivan, he thought he was there to help Luke not Elizabeth — or himself!
I found Ahern an intriguing author. Some of her books, such as PS I Love You and Where Rainbows End I really enjoyed, others, such as A Place Called Here I didn’t get on with at all. This one, If You Could See Me Now, I found interesting but not realistic. This book features stressed women, cute boys and imaginary friends.
Ivan, a mysterious character has just turned up and started hanging out with Luke. But it seems that Elizabeth is in tune with him too… I found this highly unbelievably. She did not realise that Ivan was the same imaginary Ivan that Luke was playing with and did not pick up on the fact others could not see him. She is a smart woman and was just making a fool of herself and that annoyed me.
However, this is a light read and when I ignored the spectacle Elizabeth was making I did enjoy reading about how Ivan was changing her life. There were some beautiful moments in the book that will stay with me, such as dancing in the dandelion field at dawn.
I liked Elizabeth at the beginning. Although she was moody and cold she seemed realistic and I could empathise with her and her situation. As the story unfolded my attitude changed as she changed. There were moments I really felt for her, and others when she really bugged me. Ivan didn’t make much of an impression on me. I found myself wanting him to come clean and explain who he was.
This is an easy read, and for the most part enjoyable. It is unrealistic chick-lit and not Ahern’s best novel but it was OK.
3/5
Waterstones Synopsis:
Ben is, at last, leaving home. At twenty-two, he’s the youngest of the family. His mother, Edie, an actress, is distraught. His father, Russell, a theatrical agent, is rather hoping to get his wife back. His brother, Matthew, is struggling in a relationship in which he achieves and earns less than his girlfriend. And his sister, Rosa, is wrestling with debt and the end of a turbulent love affair. Meet the Boyd family and the empty nest, twenty-first-century style.
This is the first book by Joanna Trollope I have read, and I thought it was OK, just an average chick-lit book. The story follows the Boyd family as the children leave the family home, struggle in the real world and have to face moving home.
I found this quite a depressing read actually. Everyone seemed to have problems that they dwelt on for most of the book. I know that the point of the book was the struggle with life and the need to return home but I felt that everyone was just whinging all the time. When I sit here and think back to the book that is what stands out the most.
It was not all bad. Trollope wrote characters that I developed feelings for. Edie I couldn’t stand. Everything had to be about her and she drove me mad. Russell on the other hand I felt sorry for. He just wanted his wife back, and what he got was his children and a stranger in the house.
This is what I’d called “grown up” chick-lit. It was easy to read and had a satisfactory ending. It felt more mature than other chick-lit work, but essentially that is what it was. I would like to read another of her books before I make a decision about Trollope.
7/10
Synopsis from debbiemacomber.com:
Now divorced, Zach and Rosie Cox are struggling to adjust to Judge Olivia’s unusual custody agreement—and to the fact they’re thrown together more than they would have wished. The kids are staying in the family home, and it’s Rosie and Zach who have to do the coming and going. Having discovered the tragic fate of her husband, Grace tries to adjust to single living and to the attentions of another man.
But the really big gossip comes when a guest dies at Bob and Peggy Beldon’s Thyme and Tide Bed and Breakfast. Roy McAfee, the local private investigator, wants to know who the guy was, and why he showed up there, of all places, in the middle of the night.
This is the third book in Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove series, and the house that is the feature this time is the home of Zach and Rosie, who have recently divorced. Yet when fighting for parenting rights Judge Lockheart forces them to move between homes and not disrupt the children. This is one of the things I love about Macomber, she writes unusual solutions to everyday problems. Being chick-lit means that there is a pleasant outcome to this storyline but it is still a different solution to divorce proceedings.
As with the previous book there was an open end storyline, and in this novel the story continued is of the man who mysteriously died in the local Bed and Breakfast. As the book proceeds we discover who the man is, and his tenuous links to Cedar Cove, and one other thing – his death is suspicious. But that is left for the next book in the series.
As ever, Macomber writes believable characters. I read somewhere that she writes the most realistic characters, and for the most part I can agree with that. I found I liked some characters more than others, and some really bugged me – sparking an emotional reaction is important for me because it makes me feel like I have connected properly with the novel.
I am eager to read the next book in the series to find out where all these marriages will end up and to find out more about the mystery man. Macomber writes very well and she is easy to follow and so enjoyable. Every time I finish one of her books I find myself wanting to read another. This is just a great chick-lit book.
9/10
Waterstone’s Synopsis:
Welcome to Cedar Cove – a small town with a big heart! Grace Sherman’s life was happy and untroubled – until her husband just disappeared. She’s spent the last six months desperately searching for an answer. What could be so awful that a devoted husband and father would go without a note or a warning?But life can – and does – go on. Cedar Cove is abuzz with talk of weddings and babies. Justine – the only daughter of Grace’s best friend, Judge Olivia Lockhart – recently eloped and is blissfully happy. Grace’s daughter, Kelly, just had a baby. And it looks like her older daughter, Maryellen, is seeing someone new, someone she’s keeping a secret…Then there’s Jack, who’s been pursuing a romance with Olivia, and Zach and Rosemary Cox, who’re having a few problems. And Grace’s own mystery – will she ever find out what happened to her husband?
This is the second novel in the Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber and as with her other work, I enjoyed this book. In this series Macomber has kept story lines open at the end of books and continued them on the in the next. In this particular novel the story of Grace and her missing husband is the main storyline continued. I like how Macomber doesn’t wrap everything up in one book, because I sometimes find this a bit rushed. Doing it this way allows Macomber to explore the story more.
That said, there were stories in the novel that I felt were not explored sufficiently enough. In 204 Rosewood Lane, Charlotte is taken ill with cancer. She has her surgery, and a few pages later is up and fine. For a big topic like cancer, it is breezed over and that bugged me. I felt more could have been made of it – the illness and its affects could have been looked at and included more than it was.
I was surprised by the reason of Dan’s disappearance. I wasn’t expecting it at all. I think Macomber hid that outcome well, and it really was sad. I felt Grace’s pain as she experienced it. With other Macomber novels, she has written some lovely characters – people I can relate too and believe in. This book was no exception and I really felt for Grace as she is so easy to like.
And of course, Macomber leaves the book with another mystery waiting to be solved…I found that made me want to read the next novel in the series straight after I had finished this one. I found this another enjoyable Macomber novel. She is my favourite chick-lit author, and I was not let down.
8/10
Waterstone’s Synopsis:
Two eavesdropping train passengers learn more than they bargained for about their own love lives; an office-party fling has unforeseen consequences for a young woman and for a marriage; a suburban housewife is forced to face her past when her estranged mother, famous and exotic, makes contact after many years; an office worker who imagines herself an undercover agent finds her commute to work livened up by the daily sightings of a handsome stranger…whose life she decides to investigate; an adopted woman journeys to meet the woman who gave her up all those years ago, and finds that all is not what she imagined!
This is a book full of short stories. Each story focuses on a passenger of the Dart. Some stories involved people from other stories, others were stand-alone stories. None were very long but I found them all readable, making this a quick read.
I have never read Sheila O’Flanagan and I will read her work again. I found the book enjoyable and easy to read. All the stories were gripping but I did find that some of them were not finished to my liking. There was one story about domestic violence and I thought that the resolution was too predictable and that the issue was not really looked into. There were other stories I would like to read as long stories too.
This is chick-lit and was enjoyable. I would have liked more depth in some of the stories but this was a quick book to read and I liked how O’Flanagan wrote. The stories are generally full of love and friendship and they were nice reads. If you want a quick, chick-lit book to read, this is for you.
8/10
Waterstones Synopsis:
“She didn’t understand how she could lie beside him in bed night after night and dream about another man…”When Susannah Nelson turned eighteen, her parents sent her to school abroad. She said goodbye to her boyfriend, Jake – and never saw him again.Years later, Susannah finds herself regretting the paths not taken. Returning to her parents’ house and her girlhood friends, she also returns to the past – and discovers that things are not always as they once seemed…
This book is another in the Blossom Street series. In this book we are introduced to Susannah of Susannah’s Garden. The book is set before she buys the shop on Blossom Street. Her mission is to get her mother into assisted living accommodation and to go through the house of her parents. She is suffering from depression, which is leading her to regret things that happened in her life, such as losing the love of her life, Jake.
As ever, I enjoyed this book, but I do not think it is Macomber’s best, nor do I think it is the best in the Blossom Street series. I think Macomber deals with some hard issues, such as depression and the need to live in a nursing home, as well as dealing with past regrets and I think the storyline was good. However, there towards the end there was a twist I didn’t see coming, and to be honest, I didn’t believe. And that spoilt the story for me. The return of someone from her past was not believable at all. But because this occurred close to the end of the book I don’t think it ruined the book completely.
Macomber is very good at writing characters who I like and empathise with. I like Susannah. I didn’t always agree with her decisions but I understood where she came from and I felt for her with all the decisions she had to make. I think her mother was written well too – an elderly lady who was starting to suffer from memory loss. I think she sensitive and realistic. My favourite character however was Caroline – Susannah’s old school friend. She was focused and loyal and believable.
This is chick-lit, and for the most part a good read. It was easy to read and easy to get into, I was just disappointed with the ending.
7/10
Waterstones Synopsis:
This is my (Kevin Bates) manual for my daughter Lois. The love of my life. Rules of the manual: 1.You must only read each new entry on your birthday 2.This is a private manual between you and me. 3.No peeping at the next entry unless it’s your birthday! When Lois Bates is handed the manual, she can barely bring herself to read it as the pain of her dad’s death is still so raw.Yet soon Kevin’s advice is guiding her through every stage of her life — from jobs to first loves and relationships. The manual can never be a substitute for having her dad back, but through his words Lois learns to start living again, and finds that happiness is waiting round the corner !
I was attracted to this book by the cover – green with a pretty pattern and the title. The title reminded me of Elizabeth Noble’s Things I Want My Daughter’s to Know – and in fact this book sports a similar theme: it is communication left from a dead parent for the children. When Lois is five her Dad dies. Up until the age of twelve Lois knows nothing about The Manual her Dad has left. This Manual is a hand written book with an entry on every birthday up until her thirtieth birthday.
Although not a particularly original idea, it was a good read. What was different was the fact the Manual was written by the Dad not the Mum, which highlights a special bond between father and daughter. I think Jaye’s writing of the Manual was very good and I didn’t for one moment think that this was a woman writing as a man – she wrote the part of the father well. She encompassed all the things a Dad would say to his little girl as she grows up – such as hoping she hasn’t discovered men! I think the advice given was helpful to Lois, and the reader. It was fresh and wise.
The Manual consisted of many sections, and of course the note on every birthday. However, not all of the Manual was in the book. Jaye skipped out years and didn’t include all the Miscellaneous section. Although I can understand why she did this, I do think it is a shame as a lot of emphasis is placed on how she can only read the next year’s message on her birthday. It is only a 320 page book too, which meant a lot of her life was missed out/rushed too. We follow Lois from the age of twelve to the age of thirty in not very many pages – some of which are full of the Manual. I sometimes found myself a bit lost and wondering how old she is now. I also found that this meant the only people in the book I felt connected too were the Dad and Lois. There were some important other characters who featured throughout the entire book but I didn’t seem to know them as intimately as I would have liked.
I found I had several questions too, such as what happened between her Dad and his sister? Why was the Manual started at the age of twelve? I found some things unclear. The ending was a bit predictable, but it was a happy ending.
Having listed my complaints, I must say that I found this very readable. I read it in two sittings – the story flew off the page. I am criticising the book like I am because I enjoyed the book and felt there could have been more in it to make it excellent. Although we didn’t know all the characters well I liked them, and I found myself cheering Lois on. This is chick-lit, and it is an easy read. To be honest I probably preferred Things I Want My Daughters To Know, but I did enjoy this book and would recommend it.
8/10
Waterstones Synopsis:
Dan and Sally Oliver and their friend Chloe Hennessey are lucky to be alive. Three years on, after surviving one of the world’s biggest natural disasters – the Boxing Day tsunami – their lives have changed dramatically. Dan and Sally are now parents. Dan is enjoying being a stay-at-home father taking care of their young son, and Sally is the bread winner and loves her job as a partner in a Manchester law firm. The arrangement has so far worked well, but when Dan starts to question whether Sally has got her priorities right, the cracks in their marriage begin to appear. Dan and Sally have everything Chloe wishes for in life – a happy marriage and a beautiful child. Dumped by her long term boyfriend just weeks after the tsunami, she’s been on a mission ever since to find the perfect father for the child she craves. When she meets Seth Hawthorne, she thinks she may have hit the jackpot. But is Seth the man she thinks he is? IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS is a moving, compelling story of how a life can change in a heartbeat.
I am a big fan of Erica James, and this book was not a let down. We follow the lives of Chloe – a woman torturing herself over a decision she made years ago and Dan and Sally as their marriage starts on the slope to destruction. James writes some wonderful characters, and this book is no exception. It was easy to feel emotions towards to the characters – I really felt for Dan as he tried to work out Sally; I had empathy for Chloe as she struggled to fight her feelings for Seth; I gradually began to dislike Sally more and more and I fell in love with Seth!
The storyline is not particularly original, but it made for good reading. I found it interesting that a female writer wrote such a nasty female character – Sally was the bad person in this book nit Dan, and I found that a refreshing read. My only complaint with the story is that it implies in the blurb that the Tsunami would feature a lot in the book, and it doesn’t. There is the occasional mention of the nightmares they were having and the horrors of the event, but by and large it did not feature as much as I thought it would.
Like all other James novels I found this readable and enjoyable. It is a book of 430 pages, and I enjoyed each one. I liked how I had reactions to all the characters and I wanted to find out was happening. This book has left me satisfied. This is decent chick-lit, with twists I wasn’t expected. This is well worth reading.
9/10
Waterstones Synopsis:
Family court judge Olivia Lockhart has a failed marriage, a difficult relationship with her daughter, Justine, and a mother who has plenty of opinions and is always willing to share them. When Olivia denies a divorce in court, there is a frenzied reaction and, thanks to an article by Jack Griffin in the local paper, everyone’s talking about it. Cedar Cove – people love it and sometimes they leave it, but they never forget it!
This is the first book in the Cedar Cove series, and like the rest of Macomber’s work, I really enjoyed it. This is different to her other series: Blossom Street because Cedar Cove is a navy town and the story revolves around the whole community not just a street. I found this book a fun, quick read and I have already reserved the next two books in this series.
There are a whole host of new characters that I liked. Charlotte was probably my favourite – it made me laugh that she went to wakes with the hope of coming away with a new recipe! She seemed like a wise older woman and I liked how she managed to have a whole conversion with a stroke patient who had lost the ability to speech. The rest of the characters were likable too – Macomber writes strong female characters who are a pleasure to read about. The characters seem real – I can easily believe that these people could exist in real life.
Macomber writes a good story. She is amusing, gripping and exciting. I found myself reading huge chunks of the books in one go – I wanted to know what was going to happen. I liked how Macomber didn’t tie up all the story lines in this book, allowing for continuation in the series.
The issues in the book that Macomber focuses on are hard: being a navy wife, divorce and cot death. I think that Macomber was sensitive to these issues and dealt with them well. Maybe not everything was realistic in this book but I liked how she worked things out.
Overall, this was another great read by Macomber and I’m looking forward to reading the next installment.
9/10
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