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Showing posts from August, 2015

Review: Rome in Love

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Title: Rome in Love
Author: Anita Hughes
320 pages, published August 4, 2015
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Note: I received this book from NetGalleyto facilitate my review. I received no other compensation, and all opinions are my own.

From Goodreads:

When Amelia Tate is cast to play the Audrey Hepburn role in a remake of Roman Holiday, she feels as if all her dreams have come true. She has a handsome boyfriend, is portraying her idol in a major motion picture, and gets to live in beautiful Rome for the next two months.

Once there, she befriends a young woman named Sophie with whom she begins to explore the city. Together, they discover all the amazing riches that Rome has to offer. But when Amelia’s boyfriend breaks up with her over her acting career, her perfect world begins to crumble.

While moping in her hotel suite, Amelia discovers a stack of letters written by Audrey Hepburn that start to put her own life into perspective. Then, she meets Philip, a handsome journalist who is…
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RABT Blitz: To Be Honest

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Young Adult Contemporary Romance Date Published: July 21, 2015


T.C. Booth’s latest novel, To Be Honest, is a heart-warming young adult contemporary romance that focuses on cyberbullying, diversity and the struggles of living with a handicap, from the point of view of a teenage girl.
The book features Starla Emerson, a girl whose self-esteem vanished almost overnight when a freak accident left her with a deformed hand. When her family moves and she can no longer rely on her best friend and boyfriend for moral support, she finds herself all alone one hundred and twenty miles away home.
Starla tries not to stand out at her new school, but when a stranger posts pictures of her on the internet, this puts her in the spotlight against her wishes. And when the cyberbullying threatens to destroy her relationship, things take a turn for the worse.
To Be Honest has received glowing reviews on Amazon.

 EXCERPT
 I left one shelf bare for my memory boxes. I stacked the shoe-sized cardboard boxes so their…
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TLC Book Tour: Broken Homes and Gardens

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Title: Broken Homes and Gardens
Author: Rebecca Kelley
280 pages, published April 2015
Genre: Fiction, Romance
Purchase on Amazon

Note: I received this book from TLC Book Toursto facilitate my review. I received no other compensation, and all opinions are my own.

Synopsis:

A girl, a guy, a broken-down house. Not exactly on-again, off-again, Malcolm and Joanna are in-again, out-again: in love, out of each other’s arms, in an awkward co-living arrangement, out of the country. Their unconventional relationship is the only way, Joanna says, to protect herself from the specter of commitment, which inevitably leads to heartbreak. "When Harry Met Sally" for the Millennial generation, set in the damp and drizzly neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon, Broken Homes and Gardens is an ode to friendship, lust, and the unrelenting pull of love.

My Review:

I love reading books by authors of from my home state!  The book was fun to read since the majority of it was set in Portland, OR. It was clear the …
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Bout of Books 14: Wrap Up

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Bout of Books 14 has come to a close! It was a fantastic readathon, and I had a lot of fun reading and connecting with other readers and bloggers! I participated in the chat on Saturday morning and had a great time. My dog had to have a tooth pulled on Wednesday, so I stayed home with him while he recovered on Thursday and Friday and got a TON of reading time and got to snuggle with my pup. It was a great couple of days!

I met all of my goals--I read a lot, finished not one but FOUR books, participated in twitter chats and daily challenges, and had fun! Here are the final stats:

Total pages this week: 1102
Books completed this week: 4! Rome in Love, Broken Homes and Gardens, Quiet and Only Yours

Not a bad Bout of Books!! Looking forward to Bout of Books 15, which is scheduled for January 4-10th. Happy Reading, and Happy Bout of Books!
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Review: Eight Hundred Grapes

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Title: Eight Hundred Grapes
Author: Laura Dave
260 pages, published June 2015
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: Library

From Goodreads:

Growing up on her family’s Sonoma vineyard, Georgia Ford learned some important secrets. The secret number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine: eight hundred. The secret ingredient in her mother’s lasagna: chocolate. The secret behind ending a fight: hold hands.

But just a week before her wedding, thirty-year-old Georgia discovers her beloved fiancé has been keeping a secret so explosive, it will change their lives forever.

Georgia does what she’s always done: she returns to the family vineyard, expecting the comfort of her long-married parents, and her brothers, and everything familiar. But it turns out her fiancé is not the only one who’s been keeping secrets…

My Review:

"You have to grow, mold, squish about eight hundred grapes to get just one bottle of wine. If that isn't an argument to finish the bottle, I don't know what…
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Bout of Books 14: Goals, TBR, and Progress!

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Last week I signed up for Bout of Books 14 (read my sign up post here)!  I'm so excited that it starts on Monday. Since I didn't post goals or a TBR list or anything on my sign up post, I'm posting them today! Here they are!

Goals

1. Read as much as possible (but not stress out about it). Read on lunch break, evenings, etc. On the weekend my husband has a guys weekend scheduled, so that will give me a great opportunity for reading time!

2.Participate in Twitter Chats/challenges/other events to connect with other bloggers/readers

3. Finish at least one book

4. As in the last Bout of Books...I'm not caring about a page goal....all I care about is to HAVE FUN!

TBR List
Here's what I'll be reading next week!




Daily Progress
Monday 8/17:
Reading time today: A lot! I read 210 pages!
Books read from today: Rome in Love

Number of books completed so far: 1 (Rome in Love) Tuesday 8/18:
Reading time today: Not as much as Monday. Read 65 pages total
Books read from today: Broken H…
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#boutofbooks Daily Challenge: #4SeasonsBookCovers

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Today's daily challenge is hosted by KimberlyFayeReads and is called 4 seasons book covers! The challenge is to find book covers that reflect every season! Here's my list:











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TLC Exceprt Tour: Starlight on Willow Lake

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Title: Starlight on Willow Lake
Author: Susan Wiggs
384 pages, publishing date August 25, 2015
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Purchase on Amazon

From Goodreads:

When caregiver Faith McCallum arrives at the enchanted, lakeside estate of Avalon's renowned Bellamy family, she's intent on rebuilding her shattered life and giving her two daughters a chance at a better future. But she faces a formidable challenge in the form of her stubborn and difficult new employer, Alice Bellamy. While Faith proves a worthy match for her sharp-tongued client, she often finds herself at a loss for words in the presence of Mason Bellamy—Alice's charismatic son, who clearly longs to escape the family mansion and return to his fast-paced, exciting life in Manhattan…and his beautiful, jet-setting fiancée.

The last place Mason wants to be is a remote town in the Catskills, far from his life in the city, and Faith McCallum is supposed to be the key to his escape. Hiring the gentle-hearted yet str…
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#boutofbooks Daily Challenge: Scavenger Hunt

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Today's Daily Challenge for Bout of Books is a Scavenger Hunt hosted by The Book Monsters! Here are my answers to the scavenger hunt!

1. A Book that begins with “B”  (for Bout of Books!)

2. A book you’re planning to read/currently reading for Bout of Books

3. Blue Book(s)

4. Books from your favorite genre!






5. A book on your TBR shelf, or your full TBR shelves Happy Reading, and thanks for hosting the challenge, Book Monsters!
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Review: The Status of All Things

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Title: The Status of All Things
Authors: Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke
304 pages, published June 2015
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: Library

From Goodreads:

Kate is a thirty-five-year-old woman who is obsessed with social media. So when her fiancé, Max, breaks things off at their rehearsal dinner—to be with Kate’s close friend and coworker, no less—she goes straight to Facebook to share it with the world. But something’s changed. Suddenly, Kate’s real life starts to mirror whatever she writes in her Facebook status. With all the power at her fingertips, and heartbroken and confused over why Max left her, Kate goes back in time to rewrite their history.

Kate's two best friends, Jules and Liam, are the only ones who know the truth. In order to convince them she’s really time traveled, Kate offers to use her Facebook status to help improve their lives. But her attempts to help them don’t go exactly as planned, and every effort to get Max back seems to only backfire, causing Ka…
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TLC Book Tour: Thrill Me

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Title: Thrill Me
Author: Susan Mallery
368 pages, published July 28, 2015
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Purchase on Amazon

Note: I received this book from TLC Book Toursto facilitate my review. I received no other compensation, and all opinions are my own.

From Goodreads:

Meet the Mitchell brothers of Fool's Gold, California—five gorgeous men who've left a trail of broken hearts in their wake…

Maya Farlow learned the hard way to depend only on herself, so when she fell too deeply for the bad-boy charms of Del Mitchell, she did the only thing she could—she ran. Stunned, Del left Fool's Gold to make his name and fortune in extreme sports.

Now ten years later, Maya's been hired to promote her hometown's new slogan, The Destination for Romance. The celebrity spokesman is none other than Del, the man she dumped but never forgot. Awkward!

Although Del's not the type to hold a grudge, he's determined to avoid falling a second time for the woman who broke his heart.…
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Top Ten Authors I've Read The Most Books From

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. This week's topic is Top Ten Authors I've Read the Most Books From.  Here they are, in no particular order (I've also included my favorite book from the author, for entertainment value):

1. Colleen Hoover (8 books, Favorite Book: Slammed)

2.  Nora Roberts (12 books, Favorite Book: The Bridal Quartet series)

3. Emily Giffin (7 books, Favorite Book: Something Borrowed)

4. Jill Shalvis (7 books, Favorite Book: Second Chance Summer)

5. J.K. Rowling (7 books, Favorite Book: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)

6. Elin Hilderbrand (7 books, Favorite Book: The Blue Bistro)

7. Lauren Weisberger (5 books, Favorite Book: The Devil Wears Prada)

8. Jane Green (5 books, Favorite Book: The Other Woman)

And now for some YA series....

9.  Melissa Lowell (25+ books...loved the Silver Blades series when I was younger! I took figure skating lessons for quite a few years and loved these books!)

10. Ann M. Martin (too many to count!! …
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Review: The Sweetness of Forgetting

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Title: The Sweetness of Forgetting
Author: Kristin Harmel
368 pages, published August 2012
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: Library

From Goodreads:

A baker in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, must travel to Paris to uncover a family secret for her dying grandmother's and what she learns may change everything. The Sweetness of Forgetting is the book that made Kristin Harmel an international bestseller.

At thirty-six, Hope McKenna-Smith is no stranger to bad news. She lost her mother to cancer, her husband left her for a twenty-two year old, and her bank account is nearly depleted. Her own dreams of becoming a lawyer long gone, she's running a failing family bakery on Cape Cod and raising a troubled preteen.

Now, Hope's beloved French-born grandmother Mamie, who wowed the Cape with her fabulous pastries for more than fifty years, is drifting away into a haze of Alzheimer's. But in a rare moment of clarity, Mamie realizes that unless she tells Hope about the past, the secret…
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