Emily March’s newest release, Heartsong Cottage, has hit a “publishing trifecta” appearing on the New York Times bestseller list, the USA Today bestseller list, and the Publishers Weekly bestseller list, and we are thrilled to have her as our guest for this week’s installment of Ten Questions. Continue reading “Ten Questions with Emily March”
Title: All of Us and Everything
Author: Bridget Asher
Rating: 2 stars
Reviewer: Jennifer
What I thought would be a wonderful heartfelt story of a family coming back together … wasn’t.
When the Rockwell sisters—Esme, Liv, and Ru—were young, their mother, Augusta, silenced talk of their absent father with the story that he was an international spy. Fast-forward to present day and Esme is navigating a failing marriage while trying to keep her daughter from live-tweeting every detail. Liv finds herself in between relationships and rehabs, and Ru has run away from enough people and problems to earn her frequent flier miles. When Hurricane Sandy hits the family home on the Jersey Shore, the Rockwells reunite—only to discover that the storm has unearthed a long-buried box.
I felt nothing while reading this book except an eagerness to finish. I wonder now how I did manage to finish. There must have been something there keeping me intrigued. Though for the life of me I can’t figure out what that was. I disliked each of the characters. Each character fell flat and underdeveloped, in my opinion. Some of the happenings were far-fetched and too easily fixed without a proper explanation … especially one comment made by Augusta. She mumbles something under her breath and I think “Oh! This is going to get interesting!” But it goes no further! It’s never discussed or brought up again. It would have made the more interesting story.
Usually if I’m on the fence about rating a book, the Epilogue helps me decide. It certainly did in this case … I hated it! I couldn’t understand why the author felt the need to update us on characters that I didn’t consider a factor in the story at all.
Readers all have differing opinions. This is mine. You might love this book but it just wasn’t for me.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
For this installment of Ten Questions we welcome International Bestselling author Alyson Richman *applause* Ms. Richman is the author of The Garden of Letters, The Lost Wife (one of my favorite books of all time), The Last Van Gogh, The Rhythm of Memory, and The Mask Carver’s Son. Continue reading “Ten Questions with Alyson Richman”
I’ve always been a reader. However, it wasn’t until I bought my first Kindle (a keyboard) in 2011 that the obsession really started. And it really has become this huge obsession. So much of my time is dedicated to reading and talking about reading.
Goodreads and NetGalley … I had no idea they existed before getting a Kindle. Now I check these web pages multiple times a day. Who knew I would read so much, want to read so much that I would need a way to track what I’ve read, haven’t read, or want to read via Goodreads. I had no idea there were sites like NetGalley out there that would allow me to get books for the purpose of writing a review!
I didn’t know what ARC or dtb stood for. Now you may be wondering what they stand for, right? ARC is an Advanced Readers Copy and a dtb is a dead tree book, a physical copy.
Book signings and autographed books … not something I’d ever considered important before. I now have several autographed books and have attended 3 book signings. Authors are my celebrities!
What really makes reading worthwhile though are the many friends I’ve made because of reading. Some of these people I’ve never even met in person but they are some of my favorite people. I’ve found readers to be the nicest people. Book friends have introduced me to new authors and genres I may never have discovered on my own.
Reading is an escape and something I truly enjoy. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of talking books.
And now I’m contributing to a blog! I can’t begin to imagine where this reading journey will take me next!
~Jennifer
The Bookish Ladies and I are very happy to introduce our newest feature, Ten Questions–a collection of quick, fun, short interviews with some of our favorite authors. This ongoing series will spotlight a mix of established, bestsellers, debut authors, some traditionally published, and some indie writers as well as non-traditional surprises. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoy creating them. And now without further delay we welcome our first author, Colleen Hoover. Continue reading “Ten Questions with Colleen Hoover”
Title: Heartsong Cottage
Author: Emily March
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewer: Jennifer
My heart! Heartsong Cottage is emotional, intense and suspenseful … great addition to the Eternity Springs series.
Haunted by the loss of his wife and son, Daniel Garrett left the police force to devote his life to finding missing children. But he still hasn’t found a way to mend the wounds of his past-until he attends a wedding in Eternity Springs.
Shannon O’Toole isn’t looking for romance. Ever since her fiancé’s death, she’s created a quiet life for herself. Still, she can’t deny her attraction to the handsome, broad-shouldered stranger. Daniel makes her feel things she’s hasn’t felt in years. But can Shannon trust a detective when doing so could bring danger to her cottage door?
Heartsong Cottage is Book #10 in the Eternity Springs series. Haven’t read the rest of the series yet? I recommend you do but I don’t think it will take away from the reading of this story. By reading the rest of the series you’ll have the stories of the other characters you’ll read about here.
I loved Daniel and Shannon together. I thought them to be believable characters. There stories were believable and pulled at the heartstrings and even made me gasp out loud once or twice. I can’t wait to see what’s up with them in the next book in the series.
Fans of this series won’t be disappointed. New readers of Ms. March will be hooked and eager for more.
ARC provided by NetGalley.
Title: Playing with Fire
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewer: Jennifer
I’ve only read Ms. Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles series and have absolutely loved them. While Playing with Fire is a departure from that, I did find it to be a really quick and enjoyable read.
Julia Ansdell picks up “The Incendio Waltz,” while on a trip. When she sees it for the first time, she knows it’s an unusual composition. Once back home, while playing the piece, Julia blacks out and awakens to find her young daughter implicated in acts of surprising violence. Was Julia’s daughter really acting out and intentionally harming her? I found this aspect of the story intriguing and creepy. I imagined what my reaction might be if I thought my child were harming me … and that freaked me out.
When Julia travels to Venice to find the previous owner of the music, she uncovers a dark secret that involves dangerously powerful people—a family who would stop at nothing to keep Julia from bringing the truth to light. Um … sounds like a big part of the story doesn’t it? I didn’t think so. It was not well done in my opinion. It felt slapped together and wrapped up too quickly with not enough of the details the rest of the story was given.
There is also the story of Lorenzo and Laura. I enjoyed their story as well, finding it believable and interesting.
While there was that one aspect of the story I couldn’t quite believe, I found myself not being able to turn the pages fast enough because I wanted to know what was next.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
When I first heard that IDW was going to be releasing a Jem and the Holograms comic I wasn’t sure if I should be excited, terrified, or a little bit of both.
Continue reading “Jem and the Holograms: Showtime–Reliving My Childhood in a Book Review”
The last day of Book Expo America was supposed to be a light day for me book wise. I planned on attending several signings and not picking up too many more books. Well that plan went out the window about five minutes after the floor opened. Continue reading “Book Expo America 2015 Day Three Recap: So Many Books”
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