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Category: Contemporary

Review: Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green

[ 2 ] April 20, 2012

Reviewed by Ann Liu

Thirty-seven year old  Andi gets married for the very first time.  She not only gets a husband but also two of his kids from a previous marriage. Andi has always wanted children so she lovingly raises them yet the parenting does not come easy. The eldest child Emily, age 11, challenges her and creates chaos at every turn.  Emily resents Andi for marrying her dad and feels she is in the way. It is a tense relationship for many years.

Things build up slowly as we see how manipulative Emily becomes.  Andi struggles with a husband who constantly sides with his daughter and just when you think the marriage is going to crumble, things take another turn.  Emily does not take responsibility for her actions and ends up becoming a rebellious,  misunderstood teenager, and seeks a place to belong.  She makes one bad choice after another and yet never takes responsibility for her actions. Her behavior leads her to continue to play out her dysfunctional role in the family and keeps all members locked in this unhealthy dance.

Another Piece of My Heart has a beautifully designed cover with a fitting title, but what lurks beneath is much more complicated.  Part of me thinks that in real life things would not play out the way they do. I kept wondering why this dysfunctional family didn’t seek any family counseling since there were deeply unresolved issues between the husband and his ex-wife. It was frustrating to read about the struggles that Andi had to go through and I always felt very sorry for her.

This story will anger you and also warm your heart by the end.  I finished the book in two sittings since it grabbed my attention and drew me into the depths of each family members’ perspective, allowing me to feel each person’s pain.

Jane Green writes with such intensity and creates real characters who are flawed yet redeem themselves in some way as they work through the challenges. I was only concerned with a minor story line about Andi’s infatuation with another man.  It was so minor that I didn’t see the point or even the possibility of it being significant to the whole story.

The beginning half of Another Piece of My Heart moved very slowly but I am glad I got through it because the second half was intense. Just when I thought things were calm in the family, they only became disturbed again because the past never rests. This book certainly leaves a lot to think about in terms of what defines a family and the troubles that result from issues that are not dealt with openly.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Also by Jane Green: Promises to Keep

Ann Liu loves to read women’s fiction, chick-lit, romance, and self help books. She lives in sunny Southern California, where she can enjoy her time reading outdoors.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by St. Martin’s Press. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Blog Tour: The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck

[ 4 ] April 19, 2012

Please welcome Rachel Hauck, author of The Wedding Dress, who is touring the blogosphere with LitFuse Publicity!

Reviewed by Amanda Schafer

Charlotte Malone owns a bridal shop where she helps brides-to-be find the perfect dress. She’s also supposed to be finding the perfect dress for herself since her own wedding to Tim Rose is just a few weeks away. But Charlotte is feeling out of sorts so she goes up to Ludlow Estates (a well-known mountain attraction) to think and have quiet time. What she finds instead is a beautiful old trunk at an auction and impulsively buys it. However, a short time after Charlotte buys the trunk, she and Tim break off their engagement. They both realize they rushed things and are not really ready to get married.

Emily Canton gave her love to Daniel Ludlow before he went off to play baseball. Since Daniel didn’t write to her to profess his mutual love, Emily decided to marry Phillip Saltonstall. Phillip is a young and handsome man who is a part of a wealthy and prominent family in Birmingham. But when Daniel comes back and tells Emily that he did in fact write to her while he was gone, she begins to doubt her decision. When she suspects Phillip of being unfaithful to her, she questions herself even further.

Emily’s mother insists on a particular wedding dress, made by a popular designer in town. But Emily’s heart is set on wearing the wedding dress designed by Taffy Hayes, a black seamstress from the “other” side of town. Taffy’s dress is simple, elegant, beautiful, and timeless.

Charlotte finally decides to open the trunk with Tim’s help and discovers a beautiful wedding dress inside that looks as if it’s never been worn or altered in any way. But who would part with this dress and lock it away in a trunk? In the process of finding out about the dress, Charlotte also finds out that she is deeply connected to the dress in ways she never imagined.

Rachel Hauck is a great writer and can really draw a reader in. I was a bit disappointed at first because The Wedding Dress did not “grab” me in the way her books usually do. But I kept reading and within a few chapters I was hooked!

While at first I was expecting the book to be about a dress that was handed down through generations in a family, The Wedding Dress was about so much more. A wedding dress and generations, yes, but Hauck threw in plenty of twists and turns that made the story more exciting.

At the end of the book Rachel Hauck states that the book is a symbol of the Gospel in that it never wears out, is timeless, and fits everyone who tries it on. But I also came away with the idea that we’re always connected to past generations even when we don’t feel like we are. Charlotte felt completely alone in the world because she had no immediate family. What she didn’t realize at the time was that she has always been connected to her ancestors through her town and through the people she met.

Again, Rachel Hauck has done a great job with The Wedding Dress and her writing style is very easy to read. The only thing about the book that disappointed me was that she never came back to address Daniel’s letter to Emily while he was away. She found them and started to read them, but stopped and hid them away. We never get to finish those letters to know what else he said in them. However, this was a minor issue for me and did not affect the plot at all. As a whole, this was a very enjoyable book!

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

RSVP for the Facebook party to win some great prizes!

Amanda lives in Missouri with her engineering husband, two sons, and one daughter. In between homeschooling and keeping up with church activities she loves to read Christian Fiction, Women’s Fiction, and any Chick-Lit. She never goes anywhere without a book!

The review copy of this book was provided free of any obligation by Thomas Nelson. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Darlings by Cristina Alger

[ 3 ] April 17, 2012

Reviewed by Jill Franclemont

Everybody seems to like learning about the “secret” lives of the rich and powerful. At least, it seems that way to me. Memoirs, tell-all biographies, bio-pics, television shows (reality and sit-com and drama) abound. The Darlings is Cristina Alger’s version.

I am as susceptible to this genre as anybody else. I find it ridiculous fun to read the descriptions of lavish settings, parties, and accoutrements. I will also admit to a tish of schadenfreude-ish glee when their uppance finally comes. It inevitably does, of course, because (if the genre is to be believed) the lifestyles of the rich and famous in these books/movies/shows always seem to hinge on some sort of wrong-doing.

For the Darling family, the Achilles heel is the world of high finance. The novel tells the tale of Paul Ross, a brilliant but mostly otherwise regular fellow who married into the Darlings. He’s a lawyer, married to the “nice” daughter, and a generally good guy (as the brilliant-but-mostly-otherwise-regular fellows in these stories always are). So of course, he finds himself in a bit of a pickle – save himself or go with the family – when scandal and Big Drama inevitably strikes.

Sound familiar so far? I thought so too. These stories do tend to be relatively formulaic, so I rather expected it to feel familiar. But still. Even with that expectation firmly in place, I had to keep checking the publication date (February 2012) and the “Advance Uncorrected Proofs” mark on my copy, because it felt like I’d seen this book before. Even the name of the family was familiar, having been the name of the society folk who main-charactered the recent TV show “Dirty Sexy Money”.

The Darlings is engaging and easy to read, with a panoply of characters full of eccentricities and egos. It falls into a nice routine, following the path well-trodden by other books of its genre. Don’t think that means that it wasn’t enjoyable. It was just not exactly in what I would call a “fast-paced thriller of epic proportions” sort of way.

Reviews and blurbs have billed this as one of the first books to talk about the latest Wall Street crisis. It may be that, and the specific financial elements of the crisis may be different – I’m not enough of a Wall Street follower to really know – but the fundamental story (greed leads to downfall) is as old as the hills, and in that regard the book felt a little overly-familiar for me.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

A former corporate attorney and government relations/health policy executive, Jill-Elizabeth walked away from that world (well, skipped actually) and toward a more literary life (equally challenging, but infinitely more enjoyable). If you enjoyed this review, please visit her at Jill-Elizabeth.com, the official home of All Things Jill-Elizabeth – that is, all of the teehees, musings, rants, book reviews, writing exercises, and witticisms of her burgeoning writing career.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Pamela Dorman Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Last Romanov by Dora Levy Mossanen

[ 4 ] April 16, 2012

Reviewed by Alyssa Katanic

The Last Romanov, by Dora Levy Mossanen, is a historical fiction novel exploring the Imperial Russian Romanov family and the mystery that still surrounds their lives and executions. The Romanovs have captured the imaginations of many writers through the years, and Mossanen brings us a new perspective through the fictional character of Darya, the nurse (and holistic healer) of the youngest Romanov and heir to the throne, Alexei, a hemophiliac.

Mossanen’s take on the Romanov story falls under the literary description of magical realist fiction where a realistic story is woven with elements of magic and, often, the supernatural. When we first meet Darya she is 104 years old, gorgeous and strong, and surrounded by butterflies that float out from her pockets, follow her every move, and rest in her hair. This is just a small example of the magical elements contained in The Last Romanov. Magical realist fiction is a style that is fitting to the Russian setting of the story, as it shares Russian roots (think Gogol, Kafka or Nabokov), and adds to the mystery of the family.

The Last Romanov also contains many religious aspects that include Russian Orthodox, Jewish, and reincarnation beliefs, as well as the secular. It is a very complex book, yet it does not overwhelm the reader to the point that it is no longer fun. If you are looking for a rich and mysterious adventure, Mossanen’s The Last Romanov is it.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Alyssa is a wife and stay at home, homeschooling mother of five, with two boxers, two cats, a soft shelled turtle named after Bob the Builder, and 7 frogs (admittedly a homeschooling project gone froggy). In all her spare time, she loves to read and believes that there is no such thing as having too many books!

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Sourcebooks Landmark. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Ugly to Start With by John Michael Cummings

[ 2 ] April 13, 2012

Reviewed by Joanne Reynolds

Jason is a young boy growing up in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. It is a tourist attraction and the entire town is filled with little souvenir shops. Jason lives right in the center of all of these shops, but his father is an extreme junk collector. Their yard is filled with countless “treasures” that his father believes are valuable and reusable.

Jason is a very artistic, sensitive youngest child and very different from his father, so their relationship is tenuous. His father has a supreme dislike of black people, tourists and just about anyone who doesn’t share his opinions.

Ugly to Start With is comprised of different short stories about Jason’s life. The reader is along for the ride as he learns of the town’s wanting to purchase his family’s home for historic reasons, his becoming involved with an older man, his falling in love with a girl of African-American descent and his love of art. The stories are well-rounded and pull you into the heart of Jason, who is just a young boy trying to do what he loves.

There was only one chapter that made me cringe a little. The chapter with the older man seemed creepy and I was quite disturbed by the predatory nature of the man. Otherwise the stories were interesting and made me root for Jason and hope that he would make it beyond the small town prejudicial nature of his surroundings.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Joanne has always been an avid reader and loves the ability to lose herself in someone else’s life for the time that it takes to read about it. She has a huge admiration for authors and the worlds that they create for us. She enjoys reading to her granddaughters and hopes that they take up the love of reading.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by John Michael Cummings. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Abby Finds Her Calling by Naomi King

[ 2 ] April 12, 2012

Reviewed by Meg Massey

The Lambright family is well known and respected in their Amish community. The eldest daughter of the family, Abby, runs a popular sewing shop, and lives on her own. Abby has been in love with buggy maker James Graber for years, but he is to marry her younger sister Susanna.

But when their wedding day arrives, Susanna has disappeared. At first, they all believe that she just has cold feet, but they are shocked when they discover her alarming secret. Suddenly there is a rift in their once very close community. Abby struggles to help her sister while trying to maintain relationships with those around her, including James. Can she help her sister find redemption? Will her family ever recover from Susanna’s mistake? And will she ever find love for herself?

Abby Finds Her Calling is a moving story about the power of forgiveness. Abby is a wonderful character who strives to make others happy, often neglecting herself. Her ability to forgive her sister and accept her mistakes is something that we can all learn from. If you’re a fan of novels about the Amish community, this is a story you’re sure to enjoy.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Read Naomi King’s guest post, “Do the Amish DO that?“

Meg lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, Ryan. Library professional by day, freelance writer by night, Meg writes about life, entertainment and everything in between on her blog.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by NAL Trade. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: These Girls by Sarah Pekkanen

[ 5 ] April 9, 2012

Reviewed by Colleen Turner

In a place like New York City it’s possible to create a new life, be whoever you want to be. The vibrant city allows you to show whatever face you want to the world and keep whatever secrets you have buried as deep down as you wish. This is the case for three roommates – Cate, Renee and Abby. Each is presenting only part of themselves to the world, at least at first. But as these girls begin to let a little of their guard down and trust in the others, they soon discover that their happiness will only be found when they become true to themselves.

Cate has just become the features editor at the trendy magazine, Gloss. While she’s done more than her fair share to make it to this position she cannot help but feel she doesn’t fully deserve it. She’s smart, hard-working and more than capable – if only she could see past the secret always screaming to come out, the one that could potentially destroy everything she’s worked so hard to achieve. But who do you talk to about your worries when you never let anyone close enough to help you?

For Cate’s roommate and co-worker, Renee, the perfect life seems right within reach. The position of beauty editor has become available and she knows it will come with endless perks, including an increase in salary which she desperately needs. But for this bubbly, outgoing woman, one that doesn’t quite fit in to the typical size four life of a beauty magazine, she feels her added pounds might keep her from getting the job. Diet pills seem like the perfect answer, not only to getting the position but to attracting the attention of her crush, Trey. But does the end results of taking the pills make up for the health problems they start to cause?

Then there’s Abby, Trey’s sister. She’s run away from her life in Maryland – her job as nanny, her parents, the Master’s degree she was pursuing – and seems unwilling, or unable, to tell anyone what she’s running away from. The secrets she’s hiding seem too terrible and she doesn’t know quite what to do.

As these three women get closer and begin to open up about their families, their lives and what they have really been through, the weight of their secrets begins to lift. Each will have to tackle their problems on their own, but having the others for support will make it that much easier to handle.

Sarah Pekkanen has quickly become one of my favorite authors to follow. Her characters are so real and raw that it’s not hard to place yourself in their situations. They’re funny, dynamic and perfectly flawed so you can find yourself laughing at them one minute and crying along with them the next.

As women’s fiction goes she is top caliber, and These Girls does not disappoint. If you love authors like Jennifer Weiner and Sophie Kinsella, or just want a great read to keep you entertained, These Girls is for you.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Also by Sarah Pekkanen: Skipping a Beat & The Opposite of Me

Colleen lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband, son, their dog Oliver and their fish Finn. When not working or taking care of her family she has her nose stuck in a book (and, let’s face it, often when she is working or taking care of her family as well). Nothing excites her more than discovering a new author to obsess over or a hidden jewel of a book to worship.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Washington Square Press. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Song Remains the Same by Allison Winn Scotch

[ 3 ] April 5, 2012

Reviewed by Jennifer Jensen

After waking up with little recollection of who she is, Nell Slattery must rely on those closest to her to help her put the pieces of her life back together. Her mother, sister, and husband should be the people she can trust the most, but she soon learns that the life they describe to her is nothing like the one that she actually had.

The “new” Nell starts making decisions that her family members disagree with–especially the one where she decides to let a friendly looking TV journalist record her on the road to recovery. Nell also shares a strong bond with Anderson, an actor who was the only other survivor of the plane crash that claimed Nell’s memories. As Nell sifts through pictures, music, and art that she collected over the years, she slowly begins remembering all of the things that her closest family members have been keeping from her.

The Song Remains the Same is the second novel by Allison Winn Scotch that I have had the pleasure of reading. I quickly became invested in Nell’s story, feeling deeply for her as she uncovered the dirty secrets that her family was hiding from her. I loved the exploration of the person that Nell becomes after the accident, how she eventually chooses to reinvent herself rather than living in the past.

Nell’s father, though never actually physically present in The Song Remains the Same, is a very powerful character. Nell and her father share many similarities, but he could never be the man that she wanted and needed him to be. I kept wanting him to make an appearance so that Nell could get the closure that she so desperately needed.

Anderson fascinated me as well; Nell saved his life as their plane went down, and he feels indebted to her. They are people from two different walks of life, yet their shared experience has made them closer to each other than to anyone else. I loved watching as their friendship evolved, and as Anderson struggled to reinvent himself as well.

The Song Remains the Same left me pondering my own existence, and whether I would have Nell’s strength to pursue a new way of if I found myself in a similar situation.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Also by Allison Winn Scotch: The One That I Want & Time of My Life

Jennifer graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She occasionally dabbles with her own fiction writing, particularly with the Young Adult and Paranormal genres. She currently resides in Utah with her husband and daughter.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Putnam Adult. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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