It's Monday, What are you Reading?

This was a busy week for evening activities - a book club, a concert with some girls and a dinner with one of my faves, so all the reading happened this weekend by the pool
A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

The Separatists by Lis Wiehl
The Bookshop at Water's End by Patti Callahan Henry
Serenity Harbor by RaeAnne Thayne

Currently Reading:

Sweetbriar Cottage by Denise Hunter

Next on the TBR pile:

The Child by Fiona Barton

Review: The Separatists by Lis Wiehl

The Separatists

by Lis Wiehl

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Pages: 352

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When America is threatened from within on a scale not seen since the Civil War, Erica Sparks is on the front lines reporting. But what can she do to stop it?

Star newsmaker Erica Sparks is in Bismark, North Dakota, covering the first recall of a governor in that state since 1921. Mary Bellamy, who is trying to unseat the current governor, keeps talking about going through the political process to gain more freedom for the state. She seems peaceful and level-headed . . . but with other secessionist groups making noise around the country, Erica can't help but wonder what Mary's goal really is.

Then Erica receives a desperate call from a woman downstairs in the lobby of her hotel. Erica goes down to meet her and discovers the woman in the ladies room with her throat slit. There's obviously more going on here--and someone doesn't want Erica looking below the surface.

Meanwhile, Erica's marriage to Greg Underwood seems headed for disaster . . . and her relationship with her teenage daughter Jenny may not be far behind.

Erica feels a civil war looming in her own home, and all the signs indicate that military action will be required in North Dakota. And then she discovers that the threat to all Americans is even greater than anyone imagined. Can she find the answers to save her family and her country in time?

Kritters Thoughts:  The third in a series and I would warn that you should start with book one, as I said before the mysteries are self contained but there are character developments from one book to another, so you will want to start at the beginning.

There is an uproar in the United States and some states have decided that want to break away and form their own government with their own set of rules, North Dakota has moved forward the most and by political means and that is where the drama starts for this book.  Erica Sparks takes it away again in this book and she wants to get down to the foundation of Mary Bellamy and her reasoning for spearheading this movement, it seems like there are a few reasons!

Again, I love Erica Sparks and her drive for the truth.  This book felt like there was a lot less of her personal life in comparison to the ones before, but the cliff hanger at the end makes me think that her personal life may be more of a focus in the next book, there is a next book right?


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel  (I think there will be one)

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Smith Publicity.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Candidate by Lis Wiehl

The Candidate

by Lis Wiehl

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Pages: 334

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  How far would a candidate go to become President of the United States?

In covering the presidential election campaign, star newsmaker Erica Sparks notices that favored candidate Senator Mike Ortiz seems dependent on his wife to an unnatural degree. Celeste Ortiz is a brilliant and glamorous billionaire who—along with her best friend and confidant Lily Lau—has engineered her husband’s meteoric rise. The White House is within their reach. But the more Erica investigates the Ortizes’ strange relationship, the more intrigued she becomes.

Erica begins an investigation. But everyone material to her probe ends up dead. With each death, her foreboding grows. Is she next? And can she find out in time if the country’s beloved candidate is what he seems . . . or a threat to national security?

Kritters Thoughts:  The second in a series and although the mysteries are self contained in each book there is character development from book to book, so you want to start at book one.  I won't spoil anything in my review, so you can read on if you would like.

Erica Sparks remains the main character in this book and everything I said about her yesterday is still true in this book.  I love her attitude, I love her spunk and I love what she gets into in this book.

The cover may be misleading as I can't remember a scene that takes place in DC, but the title is correct, there is something off with a presidential candidate and Erica feels like she needs to get to the bottom of it before he gets elected to the highest office.  

Just as the book yesterday hit a current nerve, this one may be even more closer to home.  Senator Mike Ortiz may have some past with a certain country that could affect his service if he were to become the president.  I couldn't put this book down and at times felt a little eerie by how close this could be to reality.  

If you are not tired from all the political crazy that is online, start with the first book and quickly follow up with this one!  Tomorrow is the review of what I think is the final in this trilogy and I will make a report on the trilogy as a whole.

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from FSB Associates.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Newsmakers by Lis Wiehl

The Newsmakers

by Lis Wiehl

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Pages: 337

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  What if it turns out that the newsmakers are actually making the news happen?

Television reporter Erica Sparks has just landed her dream job at Global News Network. Beautiful, talented, and ambitious, Erica grew up dirt poor, worked her way through Yale, and is carrying a terrible secret. She moves to Manhattan to join GNN, leaving Jenny, her adored 7-year-old daughter, in the custody of her ex-husband. Erica’s producer at the network, Greg Underwood, is handsome and compelling. Scarred by her divorce, Erica is wary of romance, but there’s no denying the mutual attraction.

On one of her first assignments, Erica witnesses a horrific Staten Island ferry crash. Then she lands a coveted interview with presumptive presidential nominee Kay Barrish. During the interview Barrish collapses. Erica valiantly tries to save her with CPR. The footage rivets the world—GNN’s ratings soar and Erica is now a household name.

But she’s troubled. What a strange coincidence that both events should happen on her watch. It’s almost as if they were engineered. Is that possible?

Erica’s relentless pursuit of the truth puts her life and that of her daughter in danger. Her investigation leads her into the heart of darkness—where the future of our democracy is at stake. 

Kritters Thoughts:  The first in a series and let me prewarn you that book #2 and book #3 reviews will be tomorrow and Friday.

This first book starts with Erica Sparks and a new news network called GNN and they are taking a chance on Erica as she is getting back into the workforce.  They want to groom her to become a new star reporter and as Erica just happens to be in the place where the news is happening she keeps getting the top ratings and the latest scoop.

What a fast paced ride that didn't stop!  From page one, I was excited to hear about Erica's Sparks journey and loved that around every corner was a character that I couldn't trust!  Erica Sparks was a fantastic, easy to follow character and I loved her never stop attitude.  I feel as though some books forget that a character has to work, this book was almost the opposite where the character almost didn't have a personal life - I loved it.

It was so interesting to read a book about the news and the ups and downs inside a news organization at this time in our history where news organizations are getting a lot of heat.  I don't know a lot about the ins and outs of them, so I liked this peak behind the curtains.

The minute I finished this one, I was excited that I had book #2 in hand and started it immediately!  Check back tomorrow for the review!


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel (and there are two more!)

Review: Monticello by Sally Cabot Gunning

Monticello

by Sally Cabot Gunning

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 368

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: HarperCollins

Goodreads:  After the early death of her mother, young Martha Jefferson accompanied her father, Thomas Jefferson, on his first diplomatic mission to Paris. Five years later, father and daughter have come home to Monticello, the family’s beloved plantation set high in the lush hills of the Virginia countryside. 

Though Monticello has suffered from her father’s absence, Martha finds it essentially unchanged, even as she has been transformed. The sheltered girl that sailed to Europe is now a handsome seventeen-year-old woman with a battle-scarred heart, who sees a world far more complicated than it once seemed. 

Blessed with her father’s sharp mind and independent spirit, Martha has long abhorred slavery and yearned for its swift end. Yet she now discovers that the home she adores is burdened by growing debt and cannot survive long without the labor of its slaves. Her bonds with those around her are shifting, too. As the doting father she has idolized since childhood returns to government, he becomes increasingly distracted by tumultuous fights for power and troubling attachments that pull him further away. And as Martha begins to pay closer attention to Sally Hemings—the beautiful light-skinned slave long acknowledged to be her mother’s half-sister—she realizes that the slave’s position in the household has subtly changed. Eager for distraction, Martha welcomes the attentions of Thomas Randolph, her exotic distant cousin, but soon Martha uncovers burdens and desires in him that threaten to compromise her own.

As her life becomes constrained by the demands of marriage, motherhood, politics, scandal, and her family’s increasing impoverishment, Martha yearns to find her way back to her childhood home; to the gentle beauty and quiet happiness of the world she once knew at the top of her father’s “little mountain.”


Kritters Thoughts:  Monticello is a famous home that housed Thomas Jefferson and his family, it is still open to the public today and I am excited to visit it soon with my niece.  When this book came up for review, I jumped at the chance!

Martha Jefferson is her own being in history and as her place next to her father was important, I loved reading a book that focused on her and her family and the ups and downs of her life.  I have read a few books about her, but they are told mostly of her time at the White House and always through the lens of being a daughter of a President, not her life as a wife, mother, slave and land owner and so on. 

I liked but didn't love this book.  It was interesting and had all the information I wanted to read, but at times I felt like the pace slowed way down.  I know having to keep a somewhat historically accurate story definitely puts an author in a box, but there were moments where I wanted the book to move along.  

I was actually glad to read a lot of the story taking place at Monticello because I knew so much of the White House days.  I learned a lot more of behind the scenes of her life and how hard it must have been to juggle her duties as a wife and eldest daughter and the the battle she had internally opposing slavery, but living on land that necessitated slaves to keep the harvest going.  I loved hearing her internal debate and her thoughts to where the country was and where it was going.

If you are a Thomas Jefferson fan and this book was up your alley, I would suggest following up with America's First Daughters by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, I completely adored that book that focuses on Jefferson's time in the White House and Martha's time as she helped her father host all of the guests and those who walk through that door.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Mind Virus by Charles Kowalski

Mind Virus

by Charles Kowalski

Publisher: Literary Wanderlust

Pages: 338

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Robin Fox, peace-loving professor of world religions, wants only to leave his dark past as a military interrogator behind him. But when an unknown suspect tries to disperse a deadly virus in downtown Washington, Fox is unwillingly drawn back into the shadowy world of intelligence.

The FBI and CIA automatically suspect Islamic terrorists, but Fox digs deeper to discover the far more frightening truth: a global conspiracy to eradicate all religion from the face of the earth.

From Washington to Jerusalem, from Rome to London, Fox must use all his skills to stop devastating attacks on the world's holiest sites on their holiest days.

Kritters Thoughts:  With the world that we live in now and religious zealots doing all sorts of things, this book fits in right here and right now.  Robin Fox is the head of an institute that strives each day to move the world to a more peaceful state, no matter what religion you adhere to or even if you don't, Fox wants peace for everyone.  With an attack in the states trying to discredit religion, Fox is brought in to try to get to the bottom of it.

Let me start by saying, I was a religious studies major in college, so the study of religion and society is my jam and add a little political intrigue and no matter what side of the political fence you are on you can admit that the entire world is a little nutty right now.  

I loved the character of Robin Fox.  I love his continual pursuit of finding the truth, but with the least violent means necessary.  I loved how he walked the reader through his steps and I felt was though I was completely in his mind and thoughts and wasn't left out of the dark for any reason.  I knew what was happening as he encountered it - I like being kept in the loop!

I would compare this book to a Dan Brown book.  In both books, you are on a quest to find clues and they both have linked the clues to religious texts and such.  I felt as though the pacing was similar in that once I start a Dan Brown it is hard to put down and the same was for this one, I read this book in two sittings because once I started down a path I wanted to find out where it would end.  

I am a fan of Charles Kowalski and could see myself reading more of his, especially if they are like this one!


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2017 Challenge: 20 out of 50

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

Another quiet week at work and a weekend full of pool time and read time!
A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

Monticello by Sally Cabot Gunning
Mind Virus by Charles Kowalski
I  Need a Lifeguard Everywhere But the Pool
by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella
Newsmakers by Lis Wiehl
The Candidate by Lisa Wiehl

Currently Reading:

The Separatists by Lis Wiehl

Next on the TBR pile:

The Bookshop at Water's End by Patti Callahan Henry

Review: The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan

The Cafe by the Sea

by Jenny Colgan

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 416

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Years ago, Flora fled the quiet Scottish island where she grew up -- and she hasn't looked back. What would she have done on Mure? It's a place where everyone has known her all her life, where no one will let her forget the past. In bright, bustling London, she can be anonymous, ambitious... and hopelessly in love with her boss.

But when fate brings Flora back to the island, she's suddenly swept once more into life with her brothers -- all strapping, loud, and seemingly incapable of basic housework -- and her father. Yet even amid the chaos of their reunion, Flora discovers a passion for cooking -- and find herself restoring dusty little pink-fronted shop on the harbour: a café by the sea.

But with the seasons changing, Flora must come to terms with past mistakes -- and work out exactly where her future lies...


Kritters Thoughts:  Let me start by saying that I have read quite a few of Jenny Colgan's books and have loved all of them, for a few reasons this one didn't leave up to the rest and I just didn't love it.  

Flora fled her home town like a lot of young people do to get an education and then a job.  Funny enough, her job has taken her back to her small hometown on a Scottish island and she must help a client get some things settled for their latest venture.  She is returning home with her head low because she has thoughts that she departed abruptly and everyone in this small town is upset about it - are they?

Don't get me wrong, I love a small town girl returning home story any day, but there were some problems that made me not fall in love with this one.  I didn't love the love triangle at all.  I won't spoil as to who is in the triangle with her, but I just didn't care for that part of the plot, I could have done without it completely.  I would have liked her to go home and get the job done and maybe love didn't need to throw in there.

Flora the character herself wasn't completely on point for me either.  At times she was fierce and authoritative and on point and then you turn the page and she is wishy washy and all over the place, I know that a person can be both, but she was too all over the place for me.  

This won't keep me from reading Jenny Colgan's next book because I have definitely loved her others and looking at her writing as a whole I more often like than dislike.  


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Until it Fades by KA Tucker

Until it Fades

by KA Tucker

Publisher: Atria Books

Pages: 368

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Twenty-four-year-old truck stop waitress and single mother Catherine Wright has simple goals: to give her five-year-old daughter a happy life and to never again be the talk of the town in Balsam, Pennsylvania: population two thousand outside of tourist season.

And then one foggy night, on a lonely road back from another failed attempt at a relationship, Catherine saves a man’s life. It isn’t until after the police have arrived that Catherine realizes exactly who it is she has saved: Brett Madden, hockey icon and media darling.

Catherine has already had her fifteen minutes of fame and the last thing she wants is to have her past dragged back into the spotlight, only this time on a national stage. So she hides her identity. It works.

For a time.

But when she finds the man she saved standing on her doorstep, desperate to thank her, all that changes. What begins as an immediate friendship quickly turns into something neither of them expected. Something that Catherine isn’t sure she can handle; something that Catherine is afraid to trust.

Because how long can an extraordinary man like Brett be interested in an ordinary woman like Catherine…before the spark fades?


Kritters Thoughts:  I am completely surprised to write this, but this is my first KA Tucker book and I now regret the truth of that statement because let me spoil my review - I loved it!

A young single mom is a waitress just trying to make it paycheck to paycheck and after a disastrous blind date she comes upon an accident and makes a big decision to risk her life to help a stranger and this one act will change the course of her life.  

What a great book.  I loved the characters - they felt so real.  I loved the story/plot - it was sweet but not sappy.  I loved the setting - how fun to read about hockey based in a big hockey town.  I loved it all.  This was such a fun read in a great chair sitting by the pool during a summer weekend.  

Let me warn you that there are a few sexy time moments, but they work in this book and fit completely in that particular moment in the story.  If you tend to shy away from romance reads, try this one out - it has way more story and isn't completely predictable like most in that genre, but this one does have a few bedroom scenes!

After reading this book, I must get to reading some more KA Tucker, do you know where I should go next?


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2017 Challenge: 18 out of 50

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Atria Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Happy Fourth of July!

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Happy Fourth of July to you all.  

I hope that each of you are enjoying this holiday with family and friends.

Review: Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigiani

Kiss Carlo

by Adriana Trigiani

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 544

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: HarperCollins

Goodreads:  It’s 1949 and South Philadelphia bursts with opportunity during the post-war boom. The Palazzini Cab Company & Western Union Telegraph Office, owned and operated by Dominic Palazzini and his three sons, is flourishing: business is good, they’re surrounded by sympathetic wives and daughters-in-law, with grandchildren on the way. But a decades-long feud that split Dominic and his brother Mike and their once-close families sets the stage for a re-match. 

Amidst the hoopla, the arrival of an urgent telegram from Italy upends the life of Nicky Castone (Dominic and his wife’s orphaned nephew) who lives and works with his Uncle Dom and his family. Nicky decides, at 30, that he wants more—more than just a job driving Car #4 and more than his longtime fiancée Peachy DePino, a bookkeeper, can offer. When he admits to his fiancée that he’s been secretly moonlighting at the local Shakespeare theater company, Nicky finds himself drawn to the stage, its colorful players and to the determined Calla Borelli, who inherited the enterprise from her father, Nicky must choose between the conventional life his family expects of him or chart a new course and risk losing everything he cherishes.


Kritters Thoughts:  Let me start by saying that I am HUGE Adriana Trigiani fan and I love her depiction of Italians and The Shoemaker's Wife may be one of my top 10 favorite books of all time, so when I heard that she was doing another epic Italian family story my heart soared, but to put it short and sweet - I didn't love this one anywhere close to my love for The Shoemaker's Wife.

Set in Philadelphia in a neighborhood where many Italians have settled, two brothers are in the midst of a feud and each are operating a cab company.  The story mostly focuses on a nephew of the brothers who has been engaged to a young woman for awhile and isn't quite ready for the next phase of life.  I loved Nicky as a character and enjoyed reading his journey, but there were a few things that just didn't work for me.

So yes, I loved Nicky as a character, but the beginning to get to Nicky just took awhile.  There was quite a bit of set up and I was ready for the story to start.  The rest of the story itself just moved a little slow for me, I wanted the pace and the story to pick up and go and it just never did.  

There also seemed like a lot packed into this book, yes it all connected to Nicky, but some of the plot points seemed extra and maybe could have been left unsaid.  There were a few moments where I wanted to just cut a bit here and there and keep it all concentrating on Nicky and his great story.  

I say all this and want to express that I am still excited for her next book and will be ready to read it when it arrives.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

Another week of time spent by the pool and curled up with books.  It was actually kind of fun to read a Christmas novella in the last week of June!
A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan
Until it Fades by KA Tucker
The Night Before Christmas by Mary McNear
Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigiani

Currently Reading:

Monticello by Sally Cabot Gunning

Next on the TBR pile:

Mind Virus by Charles Kowalski

June - the start of summer and summer reading!

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June was a great reading month. From time by the pool to a few days away from the office, June ended up being one of the best months I have had in a while and made me remember that my favorite and best season of reading is SUMMER! How did you summer reading go? Do you read more or less during the summer?


1. The Scent of Rain by Anne Montgomery
2. Sweet Tea Tuesdays by Ashley Farley
3. The Beach at Painter's Cove by Shelley Noble
4. Secrets of Southern Girls by Haley Harrigan
5. Siracusa by Delia Ephron
6. Presidential Intentions by Douglas J Wood
7. Presidential Declarations by Douglas J Wood
8. Presidential Conclusions by Douglas J Wood
9. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
10. One Wrong Turn by Deanna Lynn Sletten
11. The One That Got Away by Leigh Himes
12. The Light in Summer by Mary McNear
13. Size Matters by Allison Bliss
14. On the Plus Side by Allison Bliss
15. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
16. The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan
17. Until it Fades by KA Tucker
18. The Night Before Christmas by Mary McNear

Total pages read, clicked and flipped:  6,058

Where having I been Reading?:
Colorado City, AZ
Connecticut
Charleston, SC
Mississippi
Italy
Washington, DC (3)
New York City, NY
California
Philadelphia, PA (2)
Minnesota (2)
Texas (2)
France
Scotland