2010 Read ‘n’ Review Challenge

Book Review: Happy Hour

December 31, 2010

Synopsis: As the story opens, four women are standing on the precipice. Kat McClintock, a divorced mother of two sons, is interviewing for a position as a sommelier with a new, trendy San Francisco restaurant. The interview takes a surprising turn. Alyssa Johnson teaches art in Soho. She is engaged to marry Terrell Henley, but […]

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Book Review: The Perfect Christmas

December 30, 2010

Synopsis: Cassie Beaumont is, at the age of thirty-four, an accomplished woman. A biochemist for a plastics company, she has achieved professional success, but her personal life has not kept pace. Holed up in a laboratory eight to ten hours per day, she has little opportunity to meet new people — more specifically, men. The […]

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Book Review: The Wife’s Tale

December 30, 2010

Synopsis: Mary Gooch is forty-three years old, stands five feet, six inches tall, and weighs more than three hundred pounds. For most of her life, save one too-brief interval, she has been overweight. As a child, when she overheard the doctor explain to her mother that Mary was morbidly obese, she thought he said “obeast.” […]

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Book Review: A Dog Named Christmas

December 28, 2010

Synopsis: Todd was born to George and Maryann McCray late in their lives, after they thought their child-bearing years were behind them. Now 20 years old, Todd lives with them on the Kansas farm that has been in George’s family for several generations. The four older children, their spouses and children, visit frequently. When Todd […]

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Book Review: Stay With Me

December 28, 2010

Welcome to the TLC Book Tour for Stay With Me Synopsis: In 1979, five toddlers ranging in age from two to four years, were abandoned aboard a luxury yacht named “For Tuna” on the coast of Puerto Rico. The vessel had reportedly been lost during Hurricane David. Healthy and apparently cared for, even though one bore […]

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Book Review: Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball

December 26, 2010

Synopsis: Cora Crowder isn’t really feeling the Christmas spirit. The child of two alcoholics, Cora grew up in an abusive environment which she survived by immersing herself in her studies. When her mother threw her out of the house, Cora was fortunate to secure a college scholarship and a Christian family with whom she could […]

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Book Review: The Cougar Club

December 17, 2010

Synopsis: Kat Maguire is having a very bad day. She is late for work, where she is scheduled to make a presentation to an important client. It’s raining, and she has forgotten her umbrella. When she finally arrives at the office, wilted but ready to proceed, she sees that the presentation is already underway in […]

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Book Review: Wishin’ and Hopin’

November 8, 2010

Welcome to the TLC Book Tour for Wishin’ and Hopin’ Synopsis: It is October 1964. Lyndon Johnson is completing the late John F. Kennedy’s term in office and running for re-election against Senator Barry Goldwater. John, Paul, George, and Ringo are at the top of the charts, and Cassius Clay — who would later be even […]

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Book Review and Giveaway: The Perfect Blend

November 7, 2010

Synopsis: Stephanie Vendergrift left her disapproving parents and friends, as well as her job as a salesperson in the men’s suits department of the local Macy’s store back home in Maryland. Planning to elope with Rick Manfred, a young attorney who has just joined his father’s firm in Middleburg, Virginia, she arrives at his office […]

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Book Review: A War of Her Own

October 23, 2010

Synopsis: Summer, 1943. World War II has generated a population boom in Orange, Texas where its shipbuilders have been pressed into action supplying ships for the war effort. Suddenly, a town nearly desiccated by the Great Depression is so prosperous that there is not enough housing available for the families who have flocked to the […]

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Book Review: The Next Queen of Heaven

October 12, 2010

Welcome to the TLC Book Tour for The Next Queen of Heaven Synopsis: Mrs. Leontina Scales is a thrice-divorced mother of three teenagers residing in the little town of Thebes in late 1999. She is a member of Cliffs of Zion Radical Radiant Pentecostal Church which sits adjacent to and shares a parking lot with […]

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Book Review: Free to a Good Home

October 3, 2010

Author Eve Marie Mont recently hosted a National Pet Adoption Month contest. She asked participants to relate either what they love about their pet(s) or sharing a pet adoption or rescue story. I entered the contest, hoping to win a copy of Free to a Good Home, Eve’s debut novel. Much to my shock, but […]

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Author Interview and Book Review: A Friend in the Storm

September 30, 2010

Sometimes it’s difficult to know what kind of gift to present to a friend or relative who is grieving or experiencing an extraordinary challenge. “A little something,” I’ve often mumbled to myself as I prowled the aisles of a local store in search of just the right item that will convey a message of hope, […]

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Fall Into Reading 2010

September 24, 2010

Katrina at Callapidder Days is hosting the Fall Into Reading 2010 self-designed, self-paced reading challenge! The guidelines are simple: Each participant fashions the list of books he/she plans to read (or finish reading) this fall. The number and type of books on the list is completely up to the individual participant. Also, the list can […]

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Book Review: More Than This

September 21, 2010

I knew before I finished reading Good-Bye to All That by Margo Candela that I had to read her three previous books. I discovered Margo via Crazy Book Tours … I had not previously heard of her or her work. But I loved Good-Bye to All That and was fortunate to be able to interview Margo, as […]

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Book Review and BlogFest 2010 Giveaway: If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home Now

September 11, 2010

Finding an author whose work you have never read before, and discovering that you really enjoy his/her writing style, is a great deal of fun. I had that experience recently when I read If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home Now, the new book from Claire LaZebnik. It is LaZebnik’s fourth novel, and I enjoyed […]

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Book Review and Giveaway: Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire

September 8, 2010

I have never met a houseplant I couldn’t kill. Seriously. If you visit my home, you will see lovely yards, expertly cared for by my wonderful gardener who trims, fertilizes, transplants, and adjusts the timing of the automatic sprinkler system. Inside? There are no plants because I have the world’s brownest thumb. I prefer to […]

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Book Review: The Devil in Pew Number Seven

September 5, 2010

It is a rare event, to be sure. Usually, my review of the book I am reading is already coming together in my mind as I read, because I react to certain passages in a particular manner and am obviously aware of whether my reading experience is an enjoyable one. But there have been a […]

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Book Review: Leaving Before It’s Over

September 2, 2010

In her latest book, Leaving Before It’s Over, Jean Reynolds Page explores the true meaning of “family.” Is a family defined by genetic components and shared DNA? Or is a family about community? Can a family be forged from love by people who share a common, painful background and, at least on the surface, absolutely […]

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Book Review: Love Finds You in Victory Heights, Washington

August 28, 2010

During World War II, women played an integral role in the fight for freedom, not on the battlefields where their fathers, brothers, husbands, sweethearts, et al. were fighting, but back at home. Women left their roles as wives and homemakers, and took jobs that directly supported the war effort. In Seattle, the Boeing Plant 2 […]

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Book Review and Two Giveaways: Licensed for Trouble

August 25, 2010

Susan May Warren’s third and final installment in her series about wanna-be private investigator P.J. Sugar, Licensed for Trouble, stands on its own. Even if you have not read the first two volumes, Nothing But Trouble and Double Trouble, you will find it hard to put down once you start reading. But die-hard P.J. Sugar […]

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Book Review: Escapades of Romantically Challenged Me

August 25, 2010

It takes a really funny book to get me to laugh out loud — actually guffaw and even snort a couple of times — when I’m sitting on my patio, enjoying a cool evening breeze wafting in from the Delta through my oak trees, sipping a glass of fine Lodi wine as I read. But that’s […]

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Book Review: Paula Deen’s Savannah Style

August 18, 2010

Paula Deen’s life story is a classic American tale of unprecedented success earned after years of struggling against adversity. A Georgia native, in just over twenty years she has parlayed a $200 investment and a few modest dreams into a multi-national empire that produces hit television shows (she has four running on the Food Network […]

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Book Review and Giveaway: Healing with Words — A Writer’s Cancer Journey

August 16, 2010

When the opportunity to read and review Healing with Words — A Writer’s Cancer Journey arose, one of my best friends had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Since meeting her in 1977, she has been one of the people in my life who has always stood by me, offering unconditional love and support, as […]

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Book Review: With Friends Like These

August 11, 2010

How important to you are your long-time friendships? How well do you think you know your friends? Are you sure that you know just what kinds of behavior your friends are capable of? Do you trust them? Are you sure that they have your best interests at heart? How well do you know yourself? How willing […]

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