Tuesday, September 24, 2013

REVIEW: Christmas Carol by Michele Gorman

Title: Christmas Carol
Author: Michele Gorman
Publisher: Notting Hill Press
Publication Date: September, 2013
Genre: Chick-Lit

Description: One winter wedding, two happy couples, three ex-boyfriends. And a very uncomfortable weekend.

Carol hates Christmas. Being recently dumped, she’s not crazy about weddings either. So her sister Marley’s nuptials, over the Christmas weekend, are making her positively Scrooge-like. When she arrives at the stately home in rural Scotland to find her three ex-boyfriends in attendance, Carol has no choice but to face her ghosts to discover what really happened in those relationships, learning a lot about herself in the process. As the snow falls outside and the fire crackles in the hearth, might one of the wedding guests become the harbinger of Christmases to come?

This wickedly funny re-imagining of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol will warm the cockles of even the coldest heart.

My Thoughts: This book was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review. I am not a fan of Christmas myself, so my inner Scrooge really could relate to this story. I loved this story. To begin with, the wedding is in Scotland, my favorite place in the whole world. Send me to Scotland at Christmas time and my Scroogeness will melt away. However, our heroine does not share that feeling with me. Carol has to attend her sister’s wedding after a recent breakup where she will have to spend a weekend stuck in a house with no 3G and her exes in attendance. Bah Humbug…

In addition to the ex-boyfriends, Carol also has to spend time with many extended family members that she seems to have no affection or tolerance for. Throughout the weekend, Carol finds herself trying to find out why her relationships with these men didn’t work. Somehow, in her mind, Carol has equated happiness with perfection. She has strived to make her life perfect believing that she will be happy, but it never works out. Carol has closed off her feelings, believing if she has feelings, she can be hurt. It’s absolutely true, but she is missing out on so much of the joy life can offer.

I really admired Carol for making the effort to find out what went wrong even though it meant she would have some difficult lessons to learn about herself. Most of us couldn’t be that brave. Carol realizes that shutting off her feelings kept the pain of being hurt away, but she stopped feeling everything and was unable to find true happiness. I loved the moment when Carol realizes that feeling emotions, even painful ones, doesn’t kill her or make her a weak person. She also realizes that the world is still the same and that it’s okay to be flawed. I truly feel this is a message all of us can relate to.

My Final Verdict: Overall, this book is a fantastic chick-lit version of Dickens’ classic tale that offers a wonderful blend of humor and romance to thaw out even the most Scrooge like of hearts.


Saturday, September 14, 2013

REVIEW: Calculated In Death by J.D. Robb

Title: Calculated In Death (In Death #36)
Author: J.D. Robb
Publisher: Putnam
Publication Date: February, 2013
Genre: Mystery / Thriller

Description: On Manhattan's Upper East Side a woman lies dead at the bottom of the stairs, stripped of all her valuables. Most cops might call it a mugging gone wrong, but Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows better. A well-off accountant and a beloved wife and mother, Marta Dickenson doesn't seem the type to be on anyone's hit list. But when Eve and her partner, Peabody, find blood inside the building, the lieutenant knows Marta's murder was the work of a killer who's trained, but not professional or smart enough to remove all the evidence. But when someone steals the files out of Marta's office, Eve must immerse herself in her billionaire husband Roarke's world of big business to figure out who's cruel and callous enough to hire a hit on an innocent woman. And as the killer's violent streak begins to escalate, Eve knows she has to draw him out, even if it means using herself as bait. . . .

My Thoughts: I should have known something would happen that would interfere with the movie premiere. Silly me for thinking that Eve and the gang could have a night out on the town enjoying the excitement and hype of the premiere dressed in their glitterati with the flashbulbs blasting away. Wait a minute, what was I thinking? It’s Eve so OF COURSE, it would happen and I really think Eve prefers it that way. With Calculated In Death, Eve and her team are investigating the death of an accountant who also happens to be the sister-in-law of a judge. At first glance, it appears the murder is due to a random mugging, but Eve quickly picks up on clues left at the crime scene that lead her to believe the murder was actually a professional hit. Once again, Eve quickly pieces together clues that lead her and Peabody to the killer.

Not enough Roarke or Summerset in this story, unfortunately, but one of my favorite parts of the book involves a scene with Eve and Summerset after she comes home pretty banged up after a foot pursuit with the killer gets ugly. Summerset actually convinces Eve to take a blocker and she actually listens to him! I was so shocked that there wasn’t more of a fight. Is Eve getting soft where Summerset is concerned? Is she starting to care about him? Nah, probably not, but as much as I enjoy their snarky poke and jab sessions, I love love love the scenes where they actually have a civil conversation and where there’s a hint of some compassion, empathy or other human emotion. Just a hint, however. Anything more wouldn’t be believable. Then again, anything is possible. They certainly have come a long way since the early books, where their animosity was mutual and vibrated off the pages with a such a resounding energy, that it was impossible to misinterpret the depth of their dislike of one another as anything else.

I also enjoyed that Eve didn’t seem to be as haunted by the demons of her past as she usually is. I won’t go so far as to say she has finally turned a corner, but I think she has a much better handle on it than she realizes.

My Final Verdict: Overall, a very good and entertaining installment that delivers the usual blend of mystery, thriller, romance and humor. I am looking forward to the next offering as Roarke’s family from Ireland is coming for a visit and I so enjoy seeing Eve try to navigate her way around what having a family means.


Thursday, September 05, 2013

REVIEW: Bella Summer Takes A Chance by Michele Gorman

Title: Bella Summer Takes A Chance
Author: Michele Gorman
Publisher: Notting Hill Press
Publication Date: February, 2013
Genre: Chick-Lit

Description: Bella's career and relationship are her life's foundationwear: not glamorous and perhaps a bit binding, but supportive enough... until she realizes that they are not enough. Her life is sagging badly. She's never been in love with her boyfriend, despite a decade together. And somehow she stopped being a musician-with-a-day-job and became a consultant-who-was-musical. So she takes a terrifying leap of faith, leaving her relationship and resolving to follow her musical dreams no matter what.

Unfortunately, the life you walk away from doesn't always let you walk away.

With a wonderfully warm and witty cast of friends, all navigating between their ideals and the realities they face, together they'll find out what love and compromise really mean in this empowering tale about grasping life with both hands.

My Thoughts: This book was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review. With Bella Summer Takes A Chance, new-to-me author Michele Gorman introduces the reader to a character who grabs her life by both hands and gives it a thorough shake and toss despite no guarantee that she will end up successful. When we first meet Bella, she is coming to the realization that her life has become stagnant. She is not in love with her boyfriend of ten years and never has been. She wants the grand passion and romance and in spite of her best friend Kat’s assertion that there is no such thing, Bella is determined not to settle. Not with love or her career. Bella also decides to begin seriously pursuing her singing career.

She moves in with Frederick after she answers his advertisement for a roommate and begins pounding the pavement looking for singing gigs. I really enjoyed reading Bella’s story. I found it to be a fast read and very entertaining with several laugh out loud moments. Many of my favorite parts of this book were scenes that Frederick was in. Bella is convinced he is gay, despite his insistence that he’s “as straight as George Bush.” Several times while reading, I laughed until tears ran down my face. From the outrageous things Fred says to Bella’s first post-breakup hook-up to the birth of a baby, I had to keep my tissue box nearby at all times to wipe my eyes and my glasses. There’s even a reference in this book to Sliding Doors, which is one of my all-time favorite movies.

Bella’s best friends, Kat, Clare and Faith brought a different but also wonderful angle to the story. Kat is Austrian and very direct. Clare and Bella work together. Faith works at a newspaper and by all outward appearances seems to be frivolous with shopping and going through boyfriends like water because they possessed irritating personality characteristics. I was actually prepared to not like Faith because I thought she was judgmental, but she turns out to be the most grounded of Bella’s friends and I found myself quickly liking her. Bella also befriends Marjorie, a ninety year old woman living in a care facility where Bella volunteers. Marjorie has lived a full and quite colorful and exciting life that she gleefully shares the details of with Bella.


My Final Verdict: Overall, I loved this story. I hated to see it end and I didn’t want to say goodbye to any of the characters. This book had a lot of surprises and left me with a good feeling for the direction the characters were all heading in. I highly recommend this story if you are looking for a hilarious chick-lit that pulls the reader in immediately for outrageous fun. Michele Gorman definitely knows how to tickle a reader’s funny bone and she has made me a devoted fan.


Wednesday, September 04, 2013

New Additions To The TBR Pile In August

Sometimes, books don't have time to languish on my TBR after acquiring them. I am currently reading Bella and listening to Calculated...lol



Title: Bella Summer Takes A Chance by Michele Gorman
Description: Bella's career and relationship are her life's foundationwear: not glamorous and perhaps a bit binding, but supportive enough... until she realizes that they are not enough. Her life is sagging badly. She's never been in love with her boyfriend, despite a decade together. And somehow she stopped being a musician-with-a-day-job and became a consultant-who-was-musical. So she takes a terrifying leap of faith, leaving her relationship and resolving to follow her musical dreams no matter what.

Unfortunately, the life you walk away from doesn't always let you walk away.

With a wonderfully warm and witty cast of friends, all navigating between their ideals and the realities they face, together they'll find out what love and compromise really mean in this empowering tale about grasping life with both hands.




Title: Calculated In Death by J.D. Robb
Description: On Manhattan's Upper East Side a woman lies dead at the bottom of the stairs, stripped of all her valuables. Most cops might call it a mugging gone wrong, but Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows better.

A well-off accountant and a beloved wife and mother, Marta Dickenson doesn't seem the type to be on anyone's hit list. But when Eve and her partner, Peabody, find blood inside the building, the lieutenant knows Marta's murder was the work of a killer who's trained, but not professional or smart enough to remove all the evidence.

But when someone steals the files out of Marta's office, Eve must immerse herself in her billionaire husband Roarke's world of big business to figure out who's cruel and callous enough to hire a hit on an innocent woman. And as the killer's violent streak begins to escalate, Eve knows she has to draw him out, even if it means using herself as bait. . . .

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I am not a professional reviewer, but I love to read and share my opinions on my reading with others who are interested. I work full time but my ideal perfect day would be to curl up with a good book. The majority of the books I review here are from my private collection and my reviews are provided purely for entertainment purposes. I receive no compensation whatsoever for sharing my thoughts and review on any book. If you would like me to review your book, please email me at sharalsbooks@yahoo.com Happy Reading! :o)