It's Monday, What are you Reading?

What a crazy week!  My corporate holiday party was Friday night and I put it on mostly by myself, so the last minute crazy happened this week!  I was also doing all the usual holiday things - shopping, wrapping and decorating the house and tree!  

Two books is a sad week, but the holiday to do list is getting shorter and the rest of the month should be a little quieter!

A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

Medicis Daughter by Sophie Perinot
What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

Currently Reading:

The Last Dreamer by Barbara Solomon Josselsohn

Next on the TBR pile:

Winter Stroll by Elin Hildebrand

Review: Ask Him Why by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Ask Him Why

by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 346

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Ruth and her little brother, Aubrey, are just teenagers when their older brother ships off to Iraq. When Joseph returns, uninjured, only three and a half months later, Ruth is happy he is safe but also deeply worried. How can it be that her courageous big brother has been dishonorably discharged for refusing to go out on duty? Aubrey can’t believe that his hero doesn’t have very good reasons.

Yet as the horrifying details of the incident emerge, Joseph disappears. In their attempts to find him, Ruth and Aubrey discover he has a past far darker than either of them could imagine. But even as they learn more about their brother, important questions remain unanswered—why did he betray his unit, his country, and now his family? Joseph’s refusal to speak ignites a fire in young Aubrey that results in a disastrous, and public, act of rebellion.

The impact of Joseph’s fateful decision one night in Baghdad will echo for years to come, with his siblings caught between their love for him and the media’s engulfing frenzy of judgment. Will their family ever make their way back to each other and find a way to forgive?


Kritters Thoughts:  When something happens to someone it also happens to their families and this book tells the story of how the family is affected as their eldest son comes home very early from war because something has happened.  With alternating chapters from the other two children of the family they tell of how this big thing affected them at school and at home.  

I really enjoy family dramas and this one took an interesting twist with the other children narrating the story instead of the child who brought the tragedy home.  I liked how the story was told in three parts, so the reader gets to see these children at three different moments in their life and how each of them reacted to it.  Each child goes down a different path and I appreciated that the author presented both reactions.

I have read this author before and love how honest her books feel.  She has quite the back list and I wouldn't mind reading them, but not sure I can read her back to back as her books can feel a little heavy.


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 BookSparks PR.  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 Christmas Bridge by Elyse Douglas

The Christmas Bridge

by Elyse Douglas

Pages: 183

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  A First Love. A Second Chance. 

A young widow travels to New York on business a few days before Christmas. She has reluctantly made a date with a lover she hasn’t seen in 20 years, and she is nervous and apprehensive. Twenty years before, she made a difficult decision that has both troubled and haunted her ever since. She knows she’s about to come face-to-face with her past and she’s hoping for some redemption and resolution. She also wonders if she can somehow pick up where she left off 20 years ago and start again. 

An exciting chance encounter changes everything. Now, not only will she face the past with hope to rekindle an old romance, but there is the possibility that this chance meeting will bring her love and happiness she never thought possible. 

Once again, she will have to choose. She will have to make the right decision. She will have to believe that Christmas miracles can still happen. 


Kritters Thoughts:  A great holiday novella/short story that really put me into the holiday spirit.  With moments taking place in the city that makes me think of the holidays - New York.  Olivia a recent widow returns to New York for work during the holiday season and sets a dinner date with a long lost love, but fate intervenes!

I love how this book deals with the idea of fate.  I love how she thought her life was going a certain way when fate and a bridge stepped in.  Even in your late 30s can your life take a turn and you can end somewhere you didn't even imagine if you just follow your heart.  What a great message especially right before the new year when everyone is focusing on both the past year and the year to come.

For a "Christmas" book, this one definitely had some ups and downs and I appreciated that it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows and white snow!

With this being my first Elyse Douglas, I may have to see what other books are in her back list.  


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

Ebook 2015 Challenge:  51 out of 100

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: Secret Sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz

Secret Sisters

by Jayne Ann Krentz

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 352

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Madeline and Daphne were once as close as sisters—until a secret tore them apart. Now it might take them to their graves.

They knew his name, the man who tried to brutally attack twelve-year-old Madeline in her grandmother's hotel. They thought they knew his fate. He wouldn't be bothering them anymore...ever. Still their lives would never be the same. 

Madeline has returned to Washington after her grandmother's mysterious death. And at the old, abandoned hotel—a place she never wanted to see again—a dying man’s last words convey a warning: the secrets she and Daphne believed buried forever have been discovered.

Now, after almost two decades, Madeline and Daphne will be reunited in friendship and in fear. Unable to trust the local police, Madeline summons Jack Rayner, the hotel chain’s new security expert. Despite the secrets and mysteries that surround him, Jack is the only one she trusts...and wants. 

Jack is no good at relationships but he does possess a specific skill set that includes a profoundly intimate understanding of warped and dangerous minds. With the assistance of Jack's brother, Abe, a high-tech magician, the four of them will form an uneasy alliance against a killer who will stop at nothing to hide the truth....

Kritters Thoughts:  An interesting combination of mystery/thriller and a little romance thrown in for good measure!  Madeline had a horrifying experience as a young girl and her and her grandmother left the area and she has never returned.  Her grandmother recently passed away and she is called back to this hotel to confront the past.  She will take with her a new friend/confidant who also happens to run the security for the company that she inherited from her grandmother.  Together they will go back to an island off Washington state's coast to confront the many ghosts of her past.

The storyline for this book was just great.  I loved the plot and characters.  I loved that she had to return to the scene of the crime that she has avoided for 20 years.  I also loved that she had someone with her that didn't know her from the past, so it was an easy vessel for the story to unfold as he was learning what happened back then.

What I didn't love was I thought that Madeline's character didn't feel full.  I didn't feel the impact that this major event had on her and I didn't feel the fear that I feel like she should have had, she was too tough for me, and maybe I am being too critical, but that is what I felt.  

The pacing also didn't work for me.  There were some moments that just felt very slow and then others where my heart was racing.  I wish it had felt more consistent.

This is my first Jayne Anne Krentz book and I was surprised after looking her up that she had quite an impressive backlist.  After reading this book, I am not sure if I will dive into her backlist, but I may keep an eye out for what comes next.  This is an author that I would have to read the synopsis before I read it, I wouldn't blindly read her next book.  

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 Berkley.  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: All in Her Head by Sunny Mera

All in Her Head

by Sunny Mera

Publisher: She Writes Press

Pages: 184

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  As a young girl growing up in the Midwest, Sunny experiences the shame and stigma of scandal when her father is banned from their church for having an affair with the pastor’s best friend’s wife. As Sunny grows older, she begins to build the life she’s always wanted: she marries, buys a house, enrolls in graduate school, and soon has a baby on the way. But when she experiences the psychological phenomena of orgasmic labor, it triggers a chain of bizarre events, and she gradually descends into a world of delusion and paranoia. As Sunny struggles to separate the real from the unreal, she relies upon friends and family to ground her in truth and love—and keep her from going over the edge into madness.


Kritters Thoughts:  Sunny had a very traumatic experience during childbirth and she feels as though it put her into a depressive state and set off her brain down a very painful path. 

It is always hard to rate and review a memoir because you know that it is all truth and that the author is telling you about a moment in their own life, so to rate and review is weird.  It makes it even weirder when you don't love the book.  

At the end of the book, she referenced Brain on Fire, which I reviewed here awhile ago and definitely enjoyed.  I wished this book had had more of the feel of that one, this one felt too stream of crazy consciousness for me where as Brain on Fire felt more methodical.  I couldn't concentrate on the flow of her writing and couldn't enjoy it.


Rating:  not such a good read

Ebook 2015 Challenge: 50 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from BookSparks PR.  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 Seafront Tearoom by Vanessa Greene

The Seafront Tearoom

by Vanessa Greene

Publisher: Berkley NAL

Pages: 368

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  The first rule of afternoon tea: never rush. Take time to savor it. Just like friendship…

The Seafront Tearoom is an insider secret in small-town Scarborough – a beach-front haven with the best tea and cakes in town – and  journalist Charlie Harrison would love to put it on the map with a feature in her magazine. But single mom Kat Murray doesn’t want to see her favorite sanctuary overrun by tourists, and begs Charlie to seek out other options. She offers her help, as a “tea obsessive,” and so does French au pair Séraphine Moreau, whose upbringing makes her a connoisseur of everything sweet and indulgent.

Together the three women will scour the countryside for quaint hideaways and hidden gems, sharing along the way their secrets, disappointments, and dreams – and discovering that friendship, like tea, takes time to steep. But learning too that once you open your heart, the possibilities are endless. 

Kritters Thoughts:  Three women who's lives wouldn't seem to intersect do in the small tearoom in Scarborough in the UK.  Each woman is dealing with something and through their friendships they can help each other find resolution in the situation that they are each in.  

The book started with each women having their own chapters introducing themselves and their storylines and the reader isn't sure how this is all going to come together, but thankfully it quickly comes together and the women meet and then get on with the adventure together.  The author did a good balance of each woman having something they were dealing with, but nothing was over the top.  

There wasn't a particular that stood out that didn't work for me, I just had an overwhelming feeling while reading that this book was just ok for me.  I didn't have one moment in this book that took my breath away or made me just stop and fall in love with it.   

This was a slow quiet read and for some reason it was fine, but not great for me.  I wouldn't count this author out, but this book didn't put her on my auto buy list.  


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

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley NAL.  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 busy holiday week which is probably par for the course for the month of December!  A work holiday party that I host, holiday shopping wrapping and such and getting into the holiday spirit are taking up some time, but hopefully with some cold weather coming there will be some good curl up and reading weather!

A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

The Seafront Tearoom by Vanessa Greene
The Christmas Bridge by Elyse Douglas
Ask Him Why by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Currently Reading:

Medicis Daughter by Sophie

Next on the TBR pile:

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

Review: Put a Ring On It by Beth Kendrick

Put a Ring On It

by Beth Kendrick

Publisher: Berkley NAL

Pages: 320

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Brighton Smith doesn’t do outrageous. As an insurance actuary, it’s her job to assess risk and avoid bad investments. But when her fiancé calls to confess he’s married someone else on a whim (“I looked at her and I just knew!”), she snaps…

That night, at a local bar, Jake Sorensen—hot, rich, and way out of her league—buys Brighton a cocktail. At midnight, she kisses him. And by dawn, they’re exchanging vows at a drive-through chapel.

Brighton knows Jake is a bad bet, but she doesn’t care. After a lifetime of playing it safe, she’s finally having fun. Until the whirlwind romance gives way to painful reality...and Brighton finds out the truth about why a guy like Jake married a girl like her. With her heart on the line and the odds stacked against them, Brighton must decide whether to cut her losses or take a leap of faith that this love affair is one in a million.

Kritters Thoughts:  The third in the Black Dog Bay series that takes the reader back to a small town in Delaware where women go when break ups happen and it is a getaway to mourn the relationship loss and then get over it!  I loved the first two books - Cure for the Common Breakup and New Uses for Old Boyfriends, so check out both of these books first before you read this third in the series.  

First let me say this wasn't my favorite in the series, but in no way am I quitting this series.  I still love the premise of the town and each story has felt unique within the series.  

Brighton visits this town without knowing its history and meets a bar tender at the bar and they run off and get a quickie marriage.  This part I enjoyed and found hilarious, what didn't entertain me was the over and over again of the main character trying to decide if she wants to stay married and trying to get to know this guy she had a quickie marriage with.  For some reason this storyline didn't work for me.

If you have read the first two, I would still read this, I did enjoy reading a story set in the town and I still plan on keeping on with the series, but this was not my favorite of the pack.


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 BookSparks PR.  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: Girls Who Travel by Nicole Trilivas

Girls Who Travel

by Nicole Trilivas

Publisher: Berkley NAL

Pages: 336

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  There are many reasons women shouldn’t travel alone. But as foul-mouthed, sweet-toothed Kika Shores knows, there are many more reasons why they should. After all, most women want a lot more out of life than just having fun. Kika, for one, wants to experience the world.

But ever since she returned from her yearlong backpacking tour, she’s been steeped in misery, battling rush hour with all the other suits. Getting back on the road is all she wants. So when she’s offered a nanny job in London – the land of Cadbury Cream Eggs – she’s happy at the prospect of going back overseas and getting paid for it. But as she’s about to discover, the most exhilarating adventures can happen when you stay in one place…


Kritters Thoughts:  Kika has a passion for travel and doesn't feel right in one place for long, she has to stay still for a moment to make money to keep funding her travel and when her job situation goes bust she must find something else to keep the travel dream alive.  I love travel, but not like Kika so first let me say I loved reading her passion for travel and it was completely inspiring!

Although at moments this book felt like a lot of other books.  Girl thinks the current boy is great and new boy enters her life and she doesn't even notice and then he sweeps her off her feet!  But  I think this one had hints here and there that made it still feel original and different.

Even though it isn't beach read weather, when I finished this one I wanted to read it again while on vacation!  Her earnest wish for travel really rubbed off on me and made me want to take this book on a trip.  

Rating: perfect beach read

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley NAL.  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 Wedding Tree by Robin Wells

The Wedding Tree

by Robin Wells

Publisher: Berkley NAL

Pages: 432

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Hope Stevens thinks Wedding Tree, Louisiana, will be the perfect place to sort out her life and all the mistakes she’s made. Plus, it will give her the chance to help her free-spirited grandmother, Adelaide, sort through her things before moving into assisted living.

Spending the summer in the quaint town, Hope begins to discover that Adelaide has made some mistakes of her own. And as they go through her belongings, her grandmother recalls the wartime romance that left her torn between two men and haunted by a bone-chilling secret. Now she wants Hope’s help in uncovering the truth before it’s too late.


Kritters Thoughts:  Small town Louisiana where everyone knows everyone and rumors can fly a mile a minute.  Hope moves back after her grandmother has an accident to help her pack her things and move her out of the home she has lived in for most of her life.  It is perfect timing for Hope as she is having a change in her life as she goes through a divorce and is trying to find a new path.  At the same time neighbor Matt is still trying to settle into his new life as a widower with two small girls and his in laws very close geographically.

Each Adelaide (the grandmother), Hope and Matt narrate chapters throughout the book and they are easily marked which makes this reader happy!  Adelaide's chapters are the heart of the story as through her clothing that her and Hope are going through and packing she tells the story of her life that show Hope the family that she comes from.  

The Matt chapters are just great!  I loved how it was a fine line between having your in laws help you and your family recover from the loss but also trying to move forward without hurting their feelings.  This was an interesting storyline that I felt was so unique and I really enjoyed reading it.  

If you are a historical fiction fan, this one leans on the women's fiction side, but I think you will be satisfied.  If you are a women's fiction fan that tends to stay away from historical fiction, try this one, I think you will enjoy how the historical parts unfold seamlessly throughout the book.  


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley NAL.  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.