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Category: Fiction to Relax With

Review: Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner

[ 10 ] July 26, 2011
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Vera Pereskokova (Luxury Reading)

Jennifer Weiner’s newest novel, Then Came You, is told from the perspective of four women – India Bishop, Annie Barrow, Jules Strauss and Bettina Croft – as they navigate the joys and pitfalls of love and motherhood, and everything in between. A bit reminiscent of Jodi Picoult’s style, each chapter is told from the perspective of a different woman, allowing them to shed their own light on each situation.

Jules Strauss is a student at Princeton; attractive and intelligent, she is approached by an employee of a fertility clinic, who sees her as an ideal egg donor. Jules agrees to the donation in hopes that the $20,000 she earns will pay for yet another rehab stint for her father.

Annie Barrow struggles to raise a family on her husband’s meager military salary. When she learns of the money that surrogate mothers can make, she jumps at the chance to better their financial situation.

Thirty-something (or in reality a forty-something) India Bishop runs a small public relations firm in New York City. With a new name, new face and new body, India hopes to land the type of man who will make her efforts worthwhile. When she meets Marcus Croft, a wealthy businessman, at a local Starbucks, she knows that she has finally hit the jackpot.

At first, India’s desire to start a family with Marcus is nothing but a ploy to secure her own future. However, India soon realizes that her feelings have changed, and that Marcus is not only a way out of a substandard existence, but also her big love. Now, if only Marcus’ daughter from a previous marriage, Bettina would stop digging around for information about India’s past…

I sped through Then Came You, eager to know what would become of these women, and how their intertwining situations would eventually resolve themselves. I felt a bit let down by the last 50 pages or so as the events starts happening too quickly, and the story line lost some of the credibility I thought it had in the beginning.

Nevertheless, Jennifer Weiner has once again created a novel that will be a delight to fans of women’s fiction, and characters that many women will be able to relate to.

Rating: 3.5/5

The review copy of this book was provided free of any obligation by Simon & Schuster Galley Grab. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The First Husband by Laura Dave

[ 12 ] May 26, 2011
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Colleen Turner

When The First Husband opens, we find Annie Adams completely content in her life: she gets to tour the world writing her rather successful travel column; her long term boyfriend, Nick, is beginning to taste success as a film director; her much-loved dog, Mila, is keeping her feet warm. What could go wrong? In the next breath her world begins to unravel: Nick announces he is leaving her for the possibility of a better life with a better woman, taking her beloved Mila with him; she learns her job is potentially in danger since the paper has been taken over by a new owner; the once comforting home she shared with Nick becomes filled with the memories of what they had and what will no longer be.

With the push of her best friend, Jordan (Nick’s sister), Annie decides to thrust herself back into life to see if it will stick. She finds herself in a beachside restaurant after hours, where she meets Griffin who is moonlighting as Executive Chef until the permanent chef returns and he goes home to small town Massachusetts to open his own restaurant. Annie instantly feels connected to Griffin and decides that he might be the new lease on life she was looking for, her way to be someone new and improved. As they get to know each other the time dwindles until Griffin must go back to the life he had only temporarily put on hold…with one new addition: Annie.

Annie takes a leap and accepts Griffin’s impromptu wedding proposal, traveling to Massachusetts, by way of Las Vegas and a little wedding chapel, ready to begin anew. What she doesn’t expect when they arrive is Griffin’s brother, Jesse, waiting at their home with his two rambunctious and sticky twin boys, declaring he and his wife are separated. She doesn’t expect the ex-girlfriend who spent thirteen years with Griffin and doesn’t seem able to fully let go, or the icy mother-in-law that dotes on Griffin’s ex as the daughter in law she wished she had. She doesn’t expect to feel trapped by the small town life or the total immersion into a past she doesn’t share with Griffin. Most of all, she doesn’t expect the feelings that keep creeping into her thoughts: did I make a mistake rushing into this?

When Nick shows up at the opening of Griffin’s new restaurant and declares he is ready to give Annie everything she wanted from him, she has to make a decision: does she go back and begin again the life she thought she always wanted, or does she live this new life she never knew was missing?

I loved The First Husband! It isn’t often you find a book that can literally make you laugh out loud and then turn around and make you want to call your husband and tell him how much you love him, with tears in your voice. What makes the book perfect for me is that each of the characters are flawed in their own way and that much more realistic because of it. The First Husband will have you questioning the choices you have made in your own life and, hopefully, will reaffirm for you that real love is not worth compromising.

Rating: 5/5

Colleen lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband, son and pet fish. 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 Penguin Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Born Under a Lucky Moon by Dana Precious

[ 6 ] May 14, 2011
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Reviewed by Lauren Kirk

Born Under a Lucky Moon is a pleasant novel that acts as a hilarious reminder of how important family is, even if they are crazy and full of mischief! The beginning of the story was a bit slow, as it seemed Dana Precious was giving readers the time to absorb the mini family history before them. The chapters switched between past and present, which I found enjoyable. The notations at the top of each chapter really allowed for the story to remain intact and focused, and not at all choppy.

Jeannie Thompson is a colorful, put together, and successful film executive who lives in Los Angeles, yet hails from a tiny town in Michigan. In spite of leaving her small town roots behind her, the Thompson family is never far from Jeannie’s mind or life.

Jeannie’s job and life are hectic, and it is obvious from the start of the book that her life will never be anything resembling normal. When her boyfriend Aidan proposes, Jeannie immediately freezes and tells him she has to think about it, as she is unsure of how he will feel about her family. Suspense ensues while a fun tale of antics, love, and sheer absurdity comes pouring out little by little. The chapters are broken up between Jeannie’s tales of her past and the events unfolding in the present. I really liked this method of telling a story within a story, and found myself enjoying the parts about the Thompson family more than those dealing with Jeannie’s present.

Jeannie is likeable, dry, and humorous. The entire Thompson clan is impossible to pin down with a few words – they are definitely interesting! While most of the events Jeannie describes are highly far fetched, the story is so fun, that it doesn’t even matter if any of these events could ever happen or not. Born Under a Lucky Moon is light, humorous and heartfelt, even if it is a bit lengthy for this type of fiction, at just over 415 pages.

Dana Precious leaves no loose ends. The end of the novel is easily the best part – there are no unnecessary characters or overly descriptive passages. The book has a terrific flow and the end result is well worth the slow start. Jeannie is a triumphant character and the sense of family and the levels of love (and fun) the Thompson family has for each other seeps off the page.

Rating: 4/5

Lauren Kirk is a graduate student, freelance writer, wine lover, and avid reader. Random musings can be found over at www.goldiesays.com

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by William Morrow Paperbacks. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs

[ 7 ] April 29, 2011
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Reviewed by Alysia George

Parenting is all-consuming. Mothers, particularly, often find themselves so caught up in caring for their children, tending to their needs, entertaining and educating them, that they might easily lose sight of their own needs and interests. Then, when their children grow up and move away from home, there is suddenly a giant void that mothers are not quite sure how to fill. The Goodbye Quilt, by Susan Wiggs, explores one mother’s final goodbye to her college-bound daughter and her confusion over what to do with herself now that her role as mother is changing forever.

As Linda accompanies her daughter Molly on a cross-country road trip to Molly’s new college, Linda works on a quilt she hopes to finish in time to give to her daughter as a goodbye gift. The quilt is adorned with mementos of a love-filled family life, and as Linda works on it she reminisces about her life as a mother.

Linda and Molly spend their days on the road remembering moments represented in the quilt and re-acquainting as adults. At the same time, Linda struggles to let go, to trust that she has raised her daughter well, and to allow Molly to make her own choices. However, as the hours and days stretch on, Linda comes to realize that Molly is perhaps more capable than she realized, and that she needs to let her daughter pursue her own dreams without interference. Furthermore, she also comes to terms with the fact that when she returns home, she and her husband will have an empty nest. The quilt ties together the past, present and future as Linda begins to embrace her new relationship with Molly and to realize how she would like her own life to move forward.

The Goodbye Quilt is a touching story, yet also lacks a certain amount of depth. As a mother of young children, I will admit I found myself tearing up more than once as I related to the main character and thought of my own babies going off to college. And yet, somehow, the story of Linda and her daughter felt a bit hollow. I did enjoy the book, and would recommend it as a quick and easy beach read, but don’t expect anything earth shattering.

Rating: 3/5

Alysia lives in Metro Detroit with her husband and four children. She writes about family life, parenting issues, and other things of interest to her on her blog, Michigal.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Planned Television Arts. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Baby Planner by Josie Brown

[ 4 ] April 15, 2011
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Jenn Leisey

Katie Johnson has almost everything she could want out of life – a budding career as a coordinator for San Francisco’s mommies-to-be, a close knit family, and the love of Alex, her successful, handsome husband. All that’s ever been missing for Katie is a baby of her own. And at 37-years-old, Katie realizes she’s running out of time for her biggest dream. There’s just one problem: getting Alex to agree to share her dream.

When a lay-off leaves Katie open to explore her financial options, she puts her knowledge as a former safety tester to work, presenting her pregnant clients with the latest scoop on the best available baby products. Before long, Katie has been around one too many hormonal women and decides it’s time to take her own fertility matters into her own hands. She knows that Alex is against having another child after being alienated from his son from a previous marriage, but surely her husband would see it as a blessing . . . once Katie is successfully pregnant thanks to tampered contraceptives.

As she hopes for her stomach to grow as fast as her career, Katie meets Seth Harris, who is a struggling, single father of a newborn girl. After a frantic phone call about his baby’s dangerously high fever, Katie begins straightening out Seth’s clueless, disorganized parenting style and even pushes him to have a social life.

You can plan your birthing procedure and nursery room color palette, but Katie soon learns that you can’t always plan for the family that life gives – or takes away – from you.

Josie Brown’s novel, The Baby Planner, is a perfect weekend indulgence. Although I found the ending to be a little too obvious and predictable, the story’s process of getting there compensates for any negative marks for me. The book is filled with juicy moments that read almost like a gossip magazine, but is balanced by its real depth of the ups and downs of all of life’s relationships. And sometimes, it’s just nice to have a happy ending, right?

Rating: 3/5

There’s still time left to enter The Baby Planner giveaway!

Since graduating from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Professional Writing, Jenn works as a freelance writer, poet, and blogger at south of sheridan. She resides in Pennsylvania with her husband, and loves baking, crafting, and anything that requires a hot glue gun.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Gallery Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen

[ 15 ] April 4, 2011
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Reviewed by Alisha Churbe

During a meeting in his company’s boardroom, Julia’s husband, Michael, suffers a heart attack and dies for four minutes and eight seconds. In that time, he determines to change everything about his life. To his wife, he is no longer the man she married and is threatening the life they’ve worked so hard to build together.

Michael and Julia were high school sweethearts, but not the cliché. Don’t worry, there isn’t a cheerleader or football player in sight. They just happened to meet in high school and managed to grow up together, reaching mutual goals. Goal #1 was to get out of West Virginia and move to Washington DC where their life began separate from the families. Through successful businesses, financial gains and achieving their goals, we see everything leading up to this turning point.

The two characters are powerful together and determined to succeed. It is only when they begin to act alone and split forces that they begin to fall apart, but it isn’t a quick process. It wasn’t a small moment that defined the split, it’s a culmination of a hundred little moments, both real and fabricated that change their trajectory. The moments that Michael spends dead on the floor reveal to him how far apart the two have grown. He becomes determines to become a better person and to reconnect with Julia.

The unexpected twists in the plot well outweigh the instances of predictability. While success and ambition are major themes in Skipping a Beat, Pekkanen also explores issues of trust and guilt by subjecting Michael and Julia to fabricated accusations and acts of retaliation. Michael and Julia are well developed characters and they take control of the story and share every detail, both good and bad, of their relationship.

Skipping a Beat is an emotional and funny journey through growing up together, celebrating successes, drifting apart, and finding the way back to what is important. Some might be tempted to categorize the novel as ‘chick lit,’ but the story and characters are much more developed and truthful than I have encountered in a long time. And although Pekkanen’s story is told by a female narrator, she doesn’t fall into a plot full of the typical clichés.

Rating: 4/5

Check out our review of Pekkanen’s last novel, The Opposite of Me

Part-time fiction writer, Alisha Churbe, lives in Portland, Oregon. In the rare instances when you can pry her away from books, Alisha can be found travelling in foreign countries, cooking, or hiking with her husband Michael and dog Zach.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Washington Square Press. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Staying at Daisy’s by Jill Mansell

[ 6 ] March 17, 2011
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Reviewed by Rachel Mann

Staying at Daisy’s, by Jill Mansell, is an enjoyable and fun piece of fiction. Like many of Mansell’s other books, it pulls the readers right into an idyllic piece of English country life.

Daisy may have the same problems of the heart as most other heroines in this type of book, but she likes her job, running a hotel, and is very good at it. Even if there is an impossibly handsome and wealthy man—former rugby player Dev—as the object of Daisy’s affection, the rest of the book manages to avoid clichés by including many refreshing nods to reality—like how frustrating it is when repairmen don’t repair things.

One thing I especially liked about Staying at Daisy’s was the way it alternated between so many characters’ points of view. The book has subplots galore, so in some ways reading it is like watching a (good) soap opera: there’s a lot going on and it’s never boring.

While Daisy gets the slight majority of the narrative, it’s fun to get in the heads of other characters like Tara, the best friend, and Maggie, Tara’s aunt. Tara is a bit of a mess, but that may make readers sympathize with her romantic problems all the more. Maggie is somewhat older than the typical romantic heroine, but that doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t have a happy ending as well. Her escapades, which involve a broken washing machine, are highlights of the book.

In addition, it’s nice to read about characters who can be friends with benefits and don’t suffer any ill consequences. While nearly every character wants to find love, the book makes it plain that doing so is far from the easiest thing to do. Unless, that is, love has been right under their noses all along. Staying at Daisy’s doesn’t place any judgment on characters who settle for sex when they can’t find love; instead, most of the characters have a moment of self-realization where they discover they have fallen in love, in spite of themselves.

Rating: 4/5

Check out our review of Jill Mansell’s Rumor Has It

Rachel, who has a Ph.D. in English, is a freelance writer/editor and a voracious reader. You can talk to her about books at http://twitter.com/writehandmann.

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: Devil’s Desire by Laurie McBain

[ 4 ] January 9, 2011
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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Reviewed by Jessa L.

Elysia Demarices was living a comfortable and pleasant life with her family until the day her parents died in a carriage accident. The very next day, she received the news that her brother, while in the military, was pronounced missing in action and presumed dead. In the midst of all the heartbreak, Elysia must sell the estate and all her belongings to pay off the family debt and move in with her only surviving relative, her aunt.

Life for Elysia only goes downhill from there as her aunt treats her worse than the lowliest servant and she is given more work than the three maids combined. To add salt to the wound, she is told that she is to be married off to an unpleasant old man. Instead of accepting her terrible fate, Elysia chooses to run away and find employment in London. Through a set of confusing circumstances, she is forced to wed a man she despises en route to the city.

Lord Alex Trevegne, the Marque of St. Fleur, has quite the reputation. The seductively dark and handsome man has a way with the ladies and is rumoured to be the Devil himself. He has stolen many wives away from their husbands, and barely knows a lady for a fortnight before tossing her aside like dirty laundry. On his way to London after his latest liaison, Lord Alex finds himself in a compromising position with a green-eyed vixen. Rather than let her have the upper hand, he forces her into a marriage regardless of the fact that he feels nothing but disdain for the lady.

Devil’s Desire was originally published in 1975 and picked up by a new publisher in 2010. Normally, I don’t much care for the books labeled as romance novels, but this one was quite intriguing. I enjoyed that fact that both Alysia and Alex were arrogant, stubborn, and unwilling to compromise no matter the situation. The unplanned marriage was an interesting twist and it kept me sitting on the edge of my seat.

I loved watching the story unfold and I couldn’t wait to see if or when the two characters would finally crumble and admit how they felt. I think you’d have to be slightly interested in romance novels to end up in the appropriate aisle, but if you find yourself meandering in that direction, Devil’s Desire is a definite must read.

Jessa lives in Utah with her husband, 2 sons, 2 cats, and 2 dogs. She goes to school full time as an English major with a focus in creative writing. She likes anime and reads books and plays video games in her moments of spare time.

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

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