Tag: #bookreview

Feature Post and Book Review: Christmas, Actually by Anna Adams. Melinda Curtis and Anna J. Stewart

Grab your mug of hot chocolate, your favorite fuzzy blanket, and get ready for a dose of holiday spirit! Here are three connected, sweet holiday romances set in charming Christmas Town where local legend has it that a kiss beneath the gazebo on the town square during the holiday season means a wedding in the new year.

Book Description

Welcome to Christmas Town, Maine!

The Banning siblings are in need of a little magic this holiday season, the kind that brings love and happy-ever-afters. There’s Jack, a trauma surgeon who would prefer working to dealing with memories of his time in service. Then there’s Callie, a grade school teacher who’s trying to fill the void left by her mother and volunteering too much around town. And finally, there’s Nick, one of the town’s handymen. He’s got an unrequited crush on the owner of The Tea Pot and is going to great lengths to get a date with her this Christmas.

This set kicks off the Heartwarming Christmas Town series which has over 60 connected sweet romances, all written by Harlequin Heartwarming authors (past & present). Be sure to check out our companion series – The Christmas Carousel (The 12 Days of Heartwarming Christmas) – featuring one novella and 12 full-length holiday romances. These books, also set in Christmas Town, feature the restoration of a carousel and preparation for a Christmas wedding.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63891334-christmas-actually?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=XOhUqC3rSF&rank=2

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

CHRISTMAS, ACTUALLY (Christmas Town, Maine series) by Anna Adams, Melinda Curtis, and Anna J. Stewart is a trio of sweet holiday romance novellas featuring three siblings living in Christmas Town, Maine. This Christmas may be the one where they will finally meet the person they want to kiss beneath the mistletoe in the gazebo and fulfill the local legend.

The Banning siblings have all grown up in Christmas Town, but they all have led very different lives.

In the first novella, The Christmas Gift by Anna Adams, Dr. Jack Banning has come home to work as a trauma surgeon in the local hospital after years of service in Afghanistan. Since he has been home, he has buried himself in his work rather than deal with his memories. Sophie Palmer is on her way to Bangor to try to reconnect with her mother and work in a less stressful job than the ER since she is going to be a single mom. After she is hit by on oncoming car, her reflexes kick in and she saves the other driver’s life until Jack and the hospital’s Life Flight arrive. Jack is instantly attracted to Sophie and recognizes her PTSD symptoms. Will Sophie be able to share with Jack and take a chance on an instant attraction or will Jack’s own reticence to share keep them apart.

The second novella, The Christmas Wish by Anna J. Stewart, has Callie Banning trying to fill everyone’s expectations and requests for help over the Christmas season, since her mother is away. Callie is a second-grade teacher and has duties of her own, but she just cannot say “no”. When Callie calls in single father, Dean Galloway about his daughter Eliza’s problems with all things Christmas, she wants to help get to the reason rather than punish her. Dean is a free-lance photographer who is constantly on the move with Eliza in their RV home since his wife’s death three years ago. They have their work cut out for them because Eliza no longer believes in Christmas wishes.

In the third novella, The Christmas Date by Melinda Curtis, Nick Banning is a divorced father of one young son and the town handyman. He has never felt as accomplished as his siblings who all have college degrees, but he has a dream of getting his contractor’s license and restoring historic homes. He has had a crush on Gina Vernay, the owner of The Tea Pot since they were young. Gina had an accident that left a scar on her face and has eroded her confidence around people. When Nick discovers Gina has gone on a dating website, he replies, and they share things they haven’t in person. Nick is learning that people believe in him more than he does himself and he wants Gina to realize she is more than her scar that he just considers a part of her. Nick and Gina have the same dreams if they are willing to rely on each other and bravely face the future together.

I enjoyed this trio of novellas so much! I do not normally give novellas five stars, but these three stories have beautifully fully drawn characters and realistic scenarios all leading to heartfelt HEAs. They are the perfect sweet quick reads to get you in the mood for holiday romance.

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About the Author

Anna Adams was in the US Navy, also working on a business degree full-time, when her first child was born. That little guy changed her life–created priorities. She wanted her children to grow up, believing they could do the most unlikely things.

Like writing–which she’d done since she was old enough to force someone to listen to stories and then old enough to pick up a pencil and a piece of paper.

She switched to an English degree–and ignored her husband when he asked if she planned to “open an English store,” and eventually found jobs doing any kind of writing. And she learned to write books.

Twenty-something books later, she’s a USA Today Bestseller, and she’s still believes in unlikely things. Like true love that everyone can believe in.

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About the Author

Prior to writing romance, award-winning, USA Today Bestseller Melinda Curtis was a junior manager for a Fortune 500 company, which meant when she flew on the private jet she was relegated to the jump seat—otherwise known as the potty. After grabbing her pen (and a parachute) she made the jump to full-time writer. Between writing sweet romance and sweet romantic comedy, Melinda finds time to bond with her husband over home remodeling projects. She recently came to grips with the fact that she’s an empty nester and a grandma, concepts easier to grasp than jet-setting on a potty.

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About the Author

A geek at heart, USA Today and national bestselling author Anna J Stewart writes “refreshingly unique, quietly humorous, and profoundly moving romance.” (RT Book Reviews) Her books include The Butterfly Harbor series for Harlequin Heartwarming, along with the Blackwell continuity series. She also writes the Honor Bound series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense and has written in the ongoing Colton family saga. As her first love is paranormal romance, she’s published a number of novellas, including the Tome Wardens trilogy collection. EXPOSED, her first book of The Circle of the Red Lily romantic suspense series with CAEZIK Romance will be released in November of 2022. Readers can get a taste for what’s to come with her Nemesis Files Trilogy (light romantic suspense), available on audio through Scribd.

Anna lives in Northern California where she deals with a serious Supernatural & Jason Momoa addiction, surrounds herself with friends and family and tolerates two devious cats named Sherlock and Rosie.

Audiobook Review: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir by Paul Newman

Audiobook Description

The raw, candid, unvarnished memoir of an American icon. The greatest movie star of the past 75 years covers everything: his traumatic childhood, his career, his drinking, his thoughts on Marlon Brando, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, John Huston, his greatest roles, acting, his intimate life with Joanne Woodward, his innermost fears and passions and joys. With thoughts/comments throughout from Joanne Woodward, George Roy Hill, Tom Cruise, Elia Kazan and many others.

In 1986, Paul Newman and his closest friend, screenwriter Stewart Stern, began an extraordinary project. Stuart was to compile an oral history, to have Newman’s family and friends and those who worked closely with him, talk about the actor’s life. And then Newman would work with Stewart and give his side of the story. The only stipulation was that anyone who spoke on the record had to be completely honest. That same stipulation applied to Newman himself. The project lasted five years.

The result is an extraordinary memoir, culled from thousands of pages of transcripts. The book is insightful, revealing, surprising. Newman’s voice is powerful, sometimes funny, sometimes painful, always meeting that high standard of searing honesty. The additional voices—from childhood friends and Navy buddies, from family members and film and theater collaborators such as Tom Cruise, George Roy Hill, Martin Ritt, and John Huston—that run throughout add richness and color and context to the story Newman is telling.

Newman’s often traumatic childhood is brilliantly detailed. He talks about his teenage insecurities, his early failures with women, his rise to stardom, his early rivals (Marlon Brando and James Dean), his first marriage, his drinking, his philanthropy, the death of his son Scott, his strong desire for his daughters to know and understand the truth about their father. Perhaps the most moving material in the book centers around his relationship with Joanne Woodward—their love for each other, his dependence on her, the way she shaped him intellectually, emotionally and sexually.

The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is revelatory and introspective, personal and analytical, loving and tender in some places, always complex and profound.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63097739-the-extraordinary-life-of-an-ordinary-man

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RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF AN ORDINARY MAN: A MEMOIR by Paul Newman, David Rosenthal (Editor), Melissa Newman (Foreword), Clea Newman Soderland (Afterward) is an intimate and introspective memoir taken from thousands of pages of transcripts that Paul Newman recorded with his friend and screenwriter, Stewart Stern from 1986 to 1991. Family and friends were also interviewed with one stipulation, that also applied to Mr. Newman, which was anyone who spoke on record must be completely honest.

This is a surprisingly candid look into Paul Newman’s own life, the good, the bad and the ugly. I have lived in Cleveland and its suburbs my entire life and always find it interesting how many famous actors, athletes and writers have come from Northeastern Ohio. Mr. Newman’s birthplace of Shaker Hts. is very familiar to me with its economic and religious diversity. While he relates that he and his family were well off financially in his early years, emotionally he felt on his own or smothered by his mother for only his outer appearance. His and his mother’s relationship would be tumultuous for her entire life.

There are candid discussions for such a private man of his drinking and the effects it had on his and his families’ lives, the loss of his eldest child and only son, Scott to drugs and alcohol, and the guilt of adultery for years as he cheated on his first wife with his would be second wife, Joanne Woodward. He never felt as if he was a talented actor, but a lucky one. He also believed he had a learning disability due to his difficulty in school and later memorizing lines for plays and movies, but he was never diagnosed.

The later part of his life when he started his philanthropic organizations and camps for children, he continued to question his life and motivations. His love of car racing continued throughout his later life, and he was quite successful personally and professionally with his racing team. It was also interesting to hear about his view of or relationship with other actors and directors.

This was at times difficult to listen to because as he points out, there is a difference between the inner child and the outer self, the movie star persona who we all expect to see or meet. He was not an easy man (in his own words), but he does believe he always strives to do what is best especially as he has grown older. The Paul Newman narration is done by Jeff Daniels and is well done and easy to listen to.

This memoir was much more than I was expecting. Great for the person who wants some insight into the ordinary man, but not for you if you idealize the extraordinary star persona.

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Audiobook Information

Listening Length8 hours and 46 minutes
AuthorsPaul Newman, David Rosenthal – editor, Melissa Newman – foreword, Clea Newman Soderlund
NarratorsClea Newman Soderlund, Jeff Daniels, Melissa Newman, Ari Fliakos, January LaVoy, John Rubinstein, Emily Wachtel
Audible.com Release DateOctober 18, 2022
PublisherRandom House Audio
Program TypeAudiobook
VersionUnabridged
LanguageEnglish

Book Review: A Trace of Poison by Colleen Cambridge

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

A TRACE OF POISON (A Phyllida Bright Mystery Book #2) by Colleen Cambridge is the second entertaining cozy mystery featuring Phyllida Bright, housekeeper and best friend to Agatha Christie at Mallowan Hall. While Agatha may write clever mysteries, Phyllida solves real life murders.

For the benefit of a local orphanage, the Village of Listleigh is sponsoring Murder Fete. Agatha invites the Detection Club which consists of other famous mystery authors to give lectures, sign and sell their books, meet with their fans, and judge an amateur mystery writing contest over a weekend. The Fete is giving a grand prize of not just a local, but an international writing contract.

The first evening’s cocktail party is going well until Father Tooley, the parish priest set to tabulate the scores for the contest, falls dead. Phyllida immediately begins to collect clues, but every person at the party is an expert in murder and how to get away with it.

I enjoyed this second book even more than the first. I felt a stronger connection to the characters in this mystery as they are becoming more fully fleshed and I have become more invested. I really liked the back and forth between Phyllida and Bradford. Bradford still has a mysterious past, but you get the impression there is much more to him than has yet been revealed and I am looking forward to discovering it in future books. The plot was well paced, had many red herrings, surprises, and a climactic twist that led to Phyllida being able to give an old-fashioned denouement.

I love Phyllida and cannot wait for more cozy mysteries with the cast of characters at Mallowan Hall.

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Author Bio

Colleen Cambridge is the pen name of an award-winning USA Today and New York Times bestselling author.

Under several pseudonyms, she has written more than 36 books in a variety of genres and is always plotting her next murder—er, book.

Feature Post and Book Review: The Secret Society of Salzburg by Renee Ryan

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing My Feature Post and Book Review for THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SALZBURG by Renee Ryan from Harlequin Love Inspired Trade.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

Inspired by true events, comes a gripping and heart-wrenching story of two very different women united to bring light to the darkest days of World War II.
 
London, 1933
 
At first glance, Austrian opera singer Elsa Mayer-Braun has little in common with the young English typist she encounters on tour. Yet she and Hattie Featherstone forge an instant connection—and strike a dangerous alliance. Using their friendship as a cover, they form a secret society with a daring goal: to rescue as many Jews as possible from Nazi persecution.
 
Though the war’s outbreak threatens Elsa and Hattie’s network, their efforts attract the covert attention of the British government, offering more opportunities to thwart the Germans. But Elsa’s growing fame as Hitler’s favorite opera singer, coupled with her secret Jewish ancestry, make her both a weapon and a target—until her future, too, hangs in the balance.
 
From the glamorous stages of Covent Garden and Salzburg to the horrors of Bergen-Belsen,  two ordinary women swept up by the tide of war discover an extraordinary friendship—and the courage to save countless lives.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60374849-the-secret-society-of-salzburg?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=bmzOGvhrYW&rank=4

THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SALZBURG

Author: Renee Ryan

On-sale: December 27, 2022

Formats: Trade Paperback, Ebook

Imprint: Love Inspired Trade

Price: $16.99 U.S. / $19.99 CAN

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SALZBURG by Renee Ryan is an emotionally riveting historical fiction story primarily set in WWII Salzburg and London featuring two talented artists who risk everything to save as many Jewish lives as possible from persecution. Loosely based on a true story, I was unable to put this book down. Make sure you have some tissues handy.

Hattie and Vera Featherstone are sisters who have been working clerical jobs to survive, but they both have bigger dreams. Vera, being the oldest has also been a mother figure to the younger Hattie since their mother’s death. Even as she does everything in her power to encourage Hattie’s dream of being an accomplished artist, she works on her own dream behind closed doors. Hattie’s art is good, but there is still an emotional depth missing until she and Vera are introduced to a young opera singer’s work.

Elsa Mayer-Braun has worked her entire young life in Salzburg to reach operatic recognition and fame. As her fame rises, so does the threat from the new Nazi party. When Elsa meets the two sisters Featherstone on tour, she forms an instant bond with Hattie. Elsa and Hattie refuse to ignore the threat to the Jewish population and set up network to help as many as possible escape to England.

This dangerous alliance will test both women’s courage and bond of friendship forged in a time of danger with spies, traitors, and informers around every corner.

This is an inspirational historical fiction story beautifully written with memorable characters, acts of bravery and of human depravity and treachery which kept me on an emotional roller coaster. Hattie and Elsa displayed courage, bravery, and an unbreakable bond of friendship. All the secondary characters are as realistic and fully fleshed as the main characters. The plot is divided between two timelines that merge into an uplifting and triumphant ending.

I highly recommend this inspirational historical fiction!

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About the Author

Multi-published, award-winning author Renee Ryan grew up in Florida. She’s written nearly thirty books in several genres, including historical fiction, historical romance and contemporary romance. She currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband and a large cat many have mistaken for a small bear.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.ReneeRyan.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/renee.ryan.31/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReneeRyanBooks

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2884421.Renee_Ryan

Book Review: High Impact by Freya Barker

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

HIGH IMPACT (High Mountain Trackers Book #4) by Freya Barker is another exciting romantic suspense in the High Mountain Tracker series. This is Lucy and Bo’s story that faithful readers of the series have been waiting for. This book can be read as a standalone, but the characters are all evolving in their relationships throughout the series.

Bo Rivera has been a member of the High Mountain Trackers since his discharge from the service. Unlike the other members of the team, Bo lives in town so that he can keep an eye on his elderly and feisty mother. Bo is a flirt with all the ladies, but he is really interested in Lucy, the prickly assistant to his boss’s wife at the animal rescue down the road. But he feels she is too young, so he keeps his distance. When he discovers her age and realizes she just looks young, he is ready to change their status.

Lucy Lenoir finds more comfort and trust with animals than humans. She has never let anyone know about her true background even her best friend and boss. She is independent and sometimes wishes for the type of relationships she sees happening around her, but she is also afraid to jeopardize anyone else’s safety. After Lucy rescued some abused goats, strange incidents have been happening at the rescue and she begins to feel she is being watched and set up for the murder of the goats’ abusive owner. Bo believes in her innocence and is determined to protect her even as she fights his attention.

Lucy slowly begins to allow Bo into her life and when she tells him about her past, he feels even more protective. But Lucy’s past is closer than anyone knows, and it may destroy her future.

I have been looking forward to this pair coming together after the brief glimpses of their attraction in previous books. Even though I knew Lucy’s past was bad, it was much worse than I expected and broke my heart. Bo had secrets of his own which could have broken up this pair even before they started, but Lucy understood about not being believed. Lucy and Bo’s romance proceeded at a believable pace with honest discussion of triggers during sex scenes. It is great to catch up with the crossover characters from the previous books, also. The suspense plot continues to ramp up the tension at an ever-increasing rate until the climactic confrontation and rescue. This story has everything I was hoping for and more.

I highly recommend this romantic suspense and the entire High Mountain Trackers series!

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Author Bio

USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories. 

Driven to make her books about ‘real’ people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills in their lives.

Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We’ve Read All Year Award for “Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, and Finalist for the 2020 Kindle Book Award with “When Hope Ends”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!

Social Media Links

Facebook: http://bit.ly/FreyaFacebookTwitter: http://bit.ly/FreyaTwitter
Instagram: http://bit.ly/FreyaInstagram
Web: http://bit.ly/FreyaWeb
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/FreyaGoodreads
Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/Freya_Newsletter Bookbub: http://bit.ly/FreyaBookBub

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: A Wingman for Christmas: A Sweet Water Novella by Barbara Barth

Hi, everyone!

Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review for A WINGMAN FOR CHRISTMAS: A Sweet Water Novella by Barbara Barth on this WOW (Women on Writing) Blog Tour.

Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Summary

The annual Sweet Water, Georgia, Christmas parade is nearing but relationships are fractured on Wild Rose Lane. Antique dealer Cheryl Calloway’s holiday spirit has tanked. It’s been a horrible year with her divorce, her ex marrying younger and perkier Miriam across the street, and Mama moving into Cheryl’s Victorian cottage with her Amazon parrot right before Thanksgiving. A party girl in her eighties, Mama smokes up a storm, likes her nightly vodka, has a hankering for men, and now a wingman named Nigel. If that isn’t enough, the Historical Society wants Cheryl to clean up all the projects on her porch waiting to go to Spivey’s Antique Mall for their Christmas Open House. Her desire to work her booth is as dead as her marriage. Miriam, President of the Historical Society, chastises her, “If it ain’t pretty don’t put it on the porch.” Then there’s Alice, her strange neighbor with the six-foot fluorescent light bulb cross nailed to the huge Magnolia tree in the middle of her rose garden. Alice watches all the neighbors too closely. Just when Cheryl thinks things can’t get worse, an incident shakes her to the core, and a mystery follows revealing family secrets long forgotten. Cheryl wants to believe in miracles and love again, and Dr. James may just be the man of her dreams as he helps her and Mama sort things out.

Filled with quirky characters, mystery, family secrets, and sweet love, all set in a hot Georgia small town.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63001459-a-wingman-for-christmas?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=IpIBVuOuwo&rank=1

A WINGMAN FOR CHRISTMAS: A Sweet Water Novella

By Barbara Barth

Publisher: Gilbert Street Press

ISBN-10: 0983171599

ISBN-13: 978-0983171599

ASIN: ‎B0BJ9CWHGT

Print length: 198 pages

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

A WINGMAN FOR CHRISTMAS: A Sweet Water Novella by Barbara Barth is a perfect holiday quick read novella from a new to me author. I almost never give a novella five stars, but this story is a heartfelt, charming, quirky, and funny mash-up of small-town holiday fiction/Southern women’s fiction/cozy mystery and romance with memorable characters all packed beautifully into a small package.

Cheryl has had a very rough year and is in no mood for Christmas. She caught her husband having phone sex with the younger woman across the street, divorced him and he immediately married the neighbor, and she must see them every day. Her elderly mother is having problems, so Mama moves in with Cheryl rather than her brothers of sister because Mama has become the proud owner of an Amazon parrot named Nigel and they do not want that bird in their homes.

When Mama’s boyfriend, Franklin passes out in Cheryl’s family room, the ambulance is called. When Cheryl and Mama rush to the Emergency Room, Cheryl is introduced to the handsome Dr. James. The holiday may be looking up for Cheryl, but then her home is broken into and Nigel is stolen.

With help from unlikely sources, a suspicious neighbor next door, and a handsome doctor, Cheryl just might find the holiday spirit and Nigel.

This is such a fun holiday novella, and I did not put it down until the end. The characters are believable and lovable. Cheryl is full of love even as she is exasperated with Mama and depressed about her failed marriage, but she learns forgiveness leads to unexpected friendships and romance. The small-town setting is perfect for all these quirky characters and the short, but sweet cozy mystery plot thread of Nigel’s theft.

This is a must read holiday mash-up novella that I highly recommend!

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About the Author

Barbara Barth turned to writing and adopting dogs to heal after her husband died fourteen years ago. Known as ‘Writer With Dogs’, Barth currently lives with four Chihuahuas in a charming town forty miles outside of Atlanta. She is Literary Arts Chair at a small art center where she promotes writing activities, author events, book launches, and hosts an online group Walton Writers. Inspired by the wonderful artists around her, Barth started painting and has won several awards with her whimsical art.

Social Media Links

Website: https://bb-bjd.wixsite.com/barbarabarthwriter/home

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barbara.barth.37

Twitter: https://twitter.com/writerwithdogs

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Purchase a copy of A Wingman for Christmas on Amazon.com.