Twenty Wishes

Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

What was this book about?

Women brought together by grief, they are all widows, meet regularly and discuss what is going on in their lives. During one of these meetings they discuss the fact that they all have wishes. Things they wished they had done, would do, etc. And they decide to start writing down their 20 wishes. And by doing this they change their lies in so many ways.

What did you think about the book?

It was a really happy book. How you can connect with your dreams once you identify what they are. That dreams are achievable. Not even by some need for magic. You can make them happen by putting yourself out there.

What genre would you consider this?
Women

Overall:

Spoilers: The only problem I have is for Anne Marie. While it is great that she has made a difference in her life with this child – is that all she needs. This child will grow up and have her own life. For now this is perfect, she is dependent on Anne Marie and needs her in her life. But that will not always be the case. Where will Anne Marie be then?

Tribute

Tribute by Nora Roberts

What was this book about?

Cilla is a former child star who has had enough of the movie making business. She went through the normal child star disappointment as she became an adult and has moved on to flipping houses. Of course it isn’t that easy when your mother is still in the entertainment business and your grandmother was a very famous actress who died young.

Cilla has decided to return to her father’s hometown and to her grandmother’s famous estate. It has been left vacant for years and has deteriorated to the point where something needs to be done. Cilla is finally ready to settle down and she wants to make this her home.

She meets and can’t help but be attracted to neighbor Ford Sawyer. A comic book artist who has roots in this town as well – and connections to Cilla and her family.

When Cilla finds letters that were written to her grandmother she begins to wonder more about what her grandmother’s life was about. What caused her to tick? Who was her romantic companion? How did she deal with the death of her son?

All these questions and Cilla returning to town has caused a bit of an uproar. And someone seems to be out to get her. Can Cilla get the answers to the secrets that she needs to know in time to save her own life?

What did you think about the book?

“Nora Roberts is cool.” Stephen King is definitely right about this one (it is printed on the back cover jacket of the novel). Nora Roberts writes books that keep you interested – that you don’t want to put down. And she keeps doing it. I love that she always has books out – so that you don’t get tired of waiting for her next one. In fact because of the high quality of her books – if she didn’t write as prolifically as she does – it would be upsetting.

She knocks this one out of the park – just like she does with many others.

What genre would you consider this?
Romance

Overall:

Blame it on Paris

Blame it on Paris by Jennifer Greene

What was this book about?
Kelly Rochard leaves her fiancé , mother, and small town to escape to Paris for a week. She needs to find out more about where she came from – her father – before she can embark on other of lifes journeys – especially her marriage.

She is barely there when she is overcome by a mugger who takes everything she has. Now she is in a strange country, doesn’t understand the language, and has nothing. Can it get any worse?

When hidden knight in shining armor Will finds and rescues her, there is an instant attraction. She cannot resist him or Paris.

But will their love only work in Paris? Once they get back to their real lives, their real problems what will happen?

What did you think about the book?

This was fun and exciting and a must read for anyone who feels both an attraction to Paris and their home towns. Leaving can be fun and exciting, but coming back home has its own benefits. Sometimes it is hard living in a place where everyone knows you – especially if you disappoint them. But the benefits can outweigh the negatives.

What genre would you consider this?
Romance

Overall:

Eternal Pleasures

Eternal Pleasures by Nina Bangs (Book 1 – Gods of the Night)

What was this book about?

Ty Endeka awakens after being in slumber for millions of years. He and his brothers must stop the world from ending. On 12-21-12 ancient beings will do their best to wipe humanity off of the earth. He will stop it. He is definitely more then what he seems on the outside.

Kelly Maloy is happy with the job she is doing for Fin. Fin pays her well to do things like drive Ty Endeka around. But meeting Ty she feels both a incredible fear and incredible desire. Is she the one that can find out what their true reason for being here is? And find her way into Ty’s soul as well?

What did you think about the book?

I really really liked this book. It is incredibly imaginative and has a twist that I have never read in a book before. Yes, it started out a little slow and I just wasn’t sure what was going on. I had read Nina’s books before and believed that maybe Ty was a vampire at first but found out how wrong I was.

In some ways it is hard to get past this idea that he is a soul in a body. But the love that you have for someone is with their soul not their outsides. So this book truly demonstrates it.

What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal Romance

Overall:

Spoilers: He is a freaking dinosaur. Yep he was a dinosaur at some time. Like all the other souls are as well. How fun is that?

Into the Shadow

Into the Shadow by Christina Dodd (Touch of Darkness book 3)

What was this book about?

Karen Sonnet is sent into the wild to help her father build a hotel. She has something to prove to him and herself. When disaster strikes the site and she is rescued by her night time lover – Warlord – she is forced to realize that he wasn’t just a dream. Instead he wants to keep her. When she is finally able to leave she must leave him behind but he still follows her thoughts.

Adrik Wilder left his family and friends to become a new and evil person. His family was cursed by the devil and can transform into panthers, birds, wolves. His immediate family have been the only ones in years to deny the evilness in their soul, and when he is unable to – he leaves.

Karen is destined to be Adrik’s love as she is going to find the 3rd icon. If the family finds and reunites all 4 icons they can remove the curse. But the rest of the Varinski’s will do their best to make sure that it doesn’t happen.

What did you think about the book?

I love seeing this series move on. For a while I was afraid that I wasn’t going to see the reconciliation between Adrik and his family (because I love them – and want as much of them in the books as I can get). But I got a bit of everything. Of course I would have loved to have a little more Firebrand, Jase, etc. but I imagine the last book in the series will give me that.

What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal Romance

Overall:

One Night of Sin

One Night of Sin by Gaelen Foley (Knight Family Novel)

What was this book about?

Alec Knight has been a rogue for years. He loves gambling more then almost anything and because of it his family has disowned him. He is morning a lost love – a woman who loved him but left him and found true love with someone else. He finds Becky Ward, homeless and needing help and though he mistakes her for a prostitute. He sets out to seduce and help her.

He finds out that Becky is not at all what she appears to be. She is the granddaughter of a nobel man – an earl. She is destitute only because her Russian cousin is out to stop her from spreading the truth about him.

What Alec doesn’t realize is he can redeem himself and find true love in this woman if he only lets them both follow their hearts.

What did you think about the book?

Alec is the consummate rogue who cannot be reformed (but is in this romance novel). He has a history that would send most women screaming for the trees. But the fact that Becky can put his past aside as past allows them both to find what they need.

He isn’t perfect. She isn’t perfect. In many ways it just makes you see them both as flawed and yet good people. Gives you hope for the world. And that is what kept me intrigued and interested in reading this book.

What genre would you consider this?
Historical Romance

Overall:

That’s Amore

That’s Amore by Wendy Markham

What was this book about?

Ralphie can’t get past the death of his father – and family center – “Pop”. Ralphie has a strange need to have things remain the same, not moving on, and the death of Pop has not only left a void in the family, but he must move out of his family home as well.

Daria Marshall is a gypsy at heart. Taught by her entire family to not let herself take root anywhere she flitters from place to place. Her gypsy ancestry has also given her a gift that she sees more as a curse. She can see dead people. Unfortunately she has learned early on that relating messages from the dead isn’t easy and she can get burned. So instead she learns to just ignore her gift.

When Daria and Ralphie meet their baggage gets in the way of them forming a relationship. But at the same time they cannot deny how they feel when they are together.

What did you think about the book?

The story is interesting with several coincidences which aren’t coincidences which allow you to connect to other books, other family, and other people giving you a special view at their world.

I will give you it was hard for me to see someone with the name “Ralphie” as a hot hero – especially considering he has deep emotional problems, but over time I felt like he overcame the name and situation to be someone I was glad she was able to find.

What genre would you consider this?
Romance

Overall:

LoveHampton

LoveHampton by Tess Gerritsen


What was this book about?

Tori Miller has been dumped by her long time boyfriend and is in a rut. She has a great job, owns a company that is doing quite well, and has friends that love her. They decide they will help her get out and meet someone. She gets a makeover and becomes – Miller – housemate in a share house in the Hamptons.

The Hampton’s experience is one of both a small town and college life. Everyone knows everyone and everyone shows up at the same places. But Miller finds a way to fit in and become what she always wanted. But at what price?

What did you think about the book?

Tori is a genuine person who had a down time in her life and wants to do something to pick it up. Of course when this happens, many times it is a life of extremes. You were once behaving at one extreme and it is hard to not go to far in the opposite direction. This exploration of that and her desire to become someone new is interesting. Becoming someone new can also be difficult as the old you is always lurking in the corner and will come out at the most inopportune times.

What genre would you consider this?
Summer Read

Overall:

Whacked

Whacked by Jules Asner

What was this book about?

Dani Hale is the stalking type. She has had a relationship with a man and can’t help but follow him, read his email, and find out all she can from him. And when she suspects him of cheating it is the end of that relationship and the beginning of a new chronic stalking mentality.

Dani should have it all. She has enough money to live on comfortably, a job in Hollywood allowing her to write for a CSI like show “Flesh and Bones”. She has good friends (who only begin to understand what she is like beneath the surface).

Dani feels she needs to know it all and she is going to figure it out one way or another. Life is just one big mystery that she can solve.

What did you think about the book?

I don’t know if I liked Dani or thought she was crazy. A big part of me thinks she is just crazy. I know many people have done something like that – read someone’s email, try to break their password to see their accounts, listen to their voice mail or see who they called last. But to do it continuously and to everyone (not even men she has an intimate relationship with) sees unstable.

But dispite all this it is a fun quick read.

What genre would you consider this?
Mystery that isn’t a mystery

Overall:

All We Know of Heaven

All We Know of Heaven by Jacquelyn Mitchard

What was this book about?

Two friends who did everything together – played together, laughed together, and even almost died together. This book is about the struggle of deadly accident. How you must relearn all that you once learned. How things can never be the same for the girl left behind.

To make matters even worse there was a problem at the scene of the accident. The girls are mistaken for one another. How can the families live with the reversal in fortune.

What did you think about the book?

I LOVED this book. There was a story very similar to this of two girls around my state that this happened to. I can’t even imagine what this did to the families. Add in the complexities of high school and teenage relationships. This book tells it all. It doesn’t end in a happily ever after necessarily – just that determination can help you win the big battles – just as long as you realize what is worth fighting for. And what you just have to figure you can’t change.

What genre would you consider this?
Teen

Overall:

Somewhere in Heaven: The Remarkable Love Story of Dana and Christopher Reeve

Somewhere in Heaven: The Remarkable Love Story of Dana and Christopher Reeve by Christopher Andersen

What was this book about?

It is exactly what it is titled – the Remarkable love story of Dana and Christopher Reeve.

It begins before they met and explains their instant attraction for one another. You see them love each other, get married, have a child together. Then the unthinkable happens Chris hurts himself and ends up in a wheelchair. They struggle to maintain a stable relationship and life.

We follow their lives past Chris’s death to Dana’s own illness and death.

What did you think about the book?

I loved the story of true love in Hollywood when you find that it is not normally the case. They really did love each other. You find out that Chris is a bit of a daredevil and his injury while devastating maybe wasn’t such a shock.

I have to admit that while I knew who Christopher Reeves was – Superman – and I knew of his injury I didn’t realize the point he was at in his life career wise when it all happened. I saw him as the hero who came back from an injury – not a man who was having trouble getting roles and was being rejected by his peers.

What genre would you consider this?
Memoir

Overall:

If I was to nominate this book for an award it would be: I hope my love can be like this book – forsaking all odds (though I hope it ends a little happier).

Night Shift

Night Shift by Lilith Saintcrow (Jill Kismet)

What was this book about?

Jill Kismet is a Hunter – she takes out the evil in the night and makes them pay. She has had a history of hard times, been on the street and being a Hunter saved her. She has been marked by a hellbreed, and because of it has special powers that help her fight evil, unfortunately it also marks her in some ways as one of them. She now owes Perry (the hellbreed who marked her).

Evil has come to town and is praying on the people of the town. The police have called her in and she wants to help. She is joined by some werepeople who are tracking down a rogue were. The were seems to be joined with a hellbreed and is causing all the problems.

Jill knows her place in life, but were Saul throws her off her game. Can they belong together and can he deal with her past and more importantly her future?

What did you think about the book?

I thought this book was dark, different, and an enjoyable read. If you have read any other Lilith Saintcrow books this book to me was very similar. She creates interesting worlds that are dark and complex. It isn’t a happy read and you aren’t going to feel like everything has resolved itself and is good in the world when you finish it.

What genre would you consider this?
Paranormal

Overall: