Monday, October 31, 2016

New Arrivals To The TBR Pile In October

Title: A New York Love Story by Cassie Rocca
Description: Giving a present is not always easy. Clover O’Brian knows that only too well: her job consists of helping people in the arduous task of choosing unusual gifts. Christmas is coming, New York is buzzing, and Clover, who has always loved the festive period, savours the atmosphere.

Cade Harrison already has everything in life. A Hollywood actor, he is handsome, rich, famous and popular. Success, however, has its downsides; having just emerged from a disastrous relationship with an actress, he feels a need to hide away in an area unfrequented by stars, in an apartment lent him by a friend, far from prying eyes – especially those of tabloid reporters. But as chance will have it, the apartment in question is right opposite the one occupied by Clover, who until now has seen Hollywood actors only on the big screen. Two quite different lives meet by chance, at the most exhilarating time of year…


Title: All I Want For Christmas by Jenny Hale
Description: Christmas comes once a year . . . But true love comes once in a lifetime.

Snowflakes are falling, there’s carol singing on every corner, and Leah Evans is preparing for a family Christmas at her grandmother’s majestic plantation house in Virginia. It won’t be the same now that her beloved Nan is gone, but when Leah discovers she has inherited the mansion, she knows she can give her daughter Sadie the childhood of her dreams.

But there’s a catch. Leah must split the house with a man called David Forester. Leah hasn’t heard that name in a long time. Not since they were kids, when Davey was always there to catch her.

Now David is all grown up. He’s gorgeous, successful, and certain of one thing: Leah should sell him her half of the house.

They can’t agree, but as they share memories over wine by the log fire, Leah notices a fluttering in her stomach. And by the look in his eyes, he’s starting to feel it too.

Will it be Leah or David who must give up their dreams? Or, with a little bit of Christmas magic, will they finally understand Nan’s advice to them both about living life without regrets … and take a chance on true love?


Title: Christmas Kisses by Alison May
Description: Three girls, three kisses, three gorgeous Christmas stories ...Holly hates Christmas with a passion and can't wait to escape it - but then the flight to her once-in-a-lifetime holiday destination is canceled ...Cora has had the year from hell, and faces a bleak Christmas working in Golding's department store - in the most unflattering reindeer costume imaginable ...Jessica is in denial after her husband's betrayal, and can't help but think back to when her life still seemed so full of hope and promise...Three years from hell, three sets of broken dreams, three girls in desperate need of Christmas spirit. Is the perfect Christmas kiss all it takes?


Title: Dark Water by Robert Bryndza
Description: Beneath the water the body sank rapidly. She would lie still and undisturbed for many years but above her on dry land, the nightmare was just beginning.

When Detective Erika Foster receives a tip-off that key evidence for a major narcotics case was stashed in a disused quarry on the outskirts of London, she orders for it to be searched. From the thick sludge the drugs are recovered, but so is the skeleton of a young child.

The remains are quickly identified as seven-year-old Jessica Collins…the missing girl who made headline news twenty-six years ago.

As Erika tries to piece together new evidence with the old, she must dig deeper and find out more about the fractured Collins family and the original detective, Amanda Baker. A woman plagued by her failure to find Jessica. Erika soon realizes this is going to be one of the most complex and demanding cases she has ever taken on.

Is the suspect someone close to home? Someone is keeping secrets. Someone who doesn’t want this case solved. And they’ll do anything to stop Erika from finding the truth.

From the million-copy bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice and The Night Stalker, comes the third heart-stopping book in the Detective Erika Foster series.


Title: Ellen The Harpist by Diane Michaels
Description: Single. Inept at flirting. But at least she’s got talent and a sense of humor. The problem is, she's often the punch line. Despite her difficulties, Ellen Blum is proud of the cred she has earned serenading brides down the aisle with her harp. Doesn’t being 27 and paying her rent on time prove she’s a grown-up?

Not so much, according to her personal chorus of critics. As she dodges the barbs and petty crimes of her bosses and copes with a family crisis, she feels more like a child than ever. She has her heart set on silencing her critics and teaching them — and maybe herself — a new tune. But becoming more than the person described on her business card is even trickier than moving her harp.


Title: Love Literary Style by Karin Gillespie
Description: Low brow meets highbrow in a literary love story. Can an emotionally-stunted literary novelist and a vivacious romance writer find their happily-ever after? Even when she becomes more successful than he? Love Literary Style spoofs romantic comedy tropes, winks at literary pretensions and pokes fun at book publishing. Like Legally Blonde only in the literary world.


Title: Seeking Philbert Woodbead by Anya Wylde
Description: Miss Celine Fairweather's life was bobbing along like a boat on a tranquil stream when a summons from her beloved sister Penelope Radclyff, the Duchess of Blackthorne, changed it all. Celine hurtles off to the London to help the duchess run the Blackthorne Mansion and to discover the whereabouts of her lost love Philbert Woodbead. Celine manages to keep things deathly dull and under control for a whole week until she enlists the help of the handsome Lord Elmer-a mischievous rogue, an ex-pirate, and an incorrigible flirt who is wanted dead by all of England's husbands with attractive wives. They scurry from one giddy escapade to another seeking Philbert in musty inns and dusty streets, and through it all Celine tries to keep her bonnet straight, her gloves spotless and her heart in tune with her head. Life has suddenly turned exciting, and love has well and truly bitten her rosy buttocks. Now the only question is ... who has done the biting?


Title: Solo by Jill Mansell
Description: It all starts at a party, as these things often do...

- A one-night stand with far-reaching consequences
- Momentarily enamored guests going home with all the wrong people
- An unfaithful wife struck by jealousy and getting a dose of her own medicine
- A shocking family secret revealed at the worst possible moment

One fling follows another, and now the whole community is embroiled in a great big web of deceit, the untangling of which will charm you, amuse you, make you laugh and make you cry.

Whatever's going on in your life, Solo by Jill Mansell is the perfect distraction right about now...


Title: The Christmas Cake Café by Sue Watson
Description: Heart-warming and hilarious, a story that will make you laugh, cry and bring a smile to your face. Get ready for another deliciously amazing Christmas treat from Sue Watson….

As the Prosecco chills and Bing Crosby croons, Jen Barker just knows that her long-term boyfriend is about to propose. But instead of a diamond ring nestled in her champagne flute, Jen finds cold flat rejection. Her once perfect life and dreams of a husband and family seem even further from reach.

A working holiday to the Swiss Alps with her younger sister Jody might not be the Christmas Jen had it mind, but it offers her the chance to recharge her batteries and recover from heartbreak.

When Jen meets handsome ski instructor Jon Zutter her hopes for a happy-ever-after seem within her grasp again. Jon is kind and gorgeous and as they bond over Sachetorte at the picturesque Cake Café, Jen thinks he might just be her perfect man. But a relationship with him comes with a catch – and there are some things even cake can’t fix.

As the snow falls and Christmas approaches, could this be the place that restores Jen Barker’s faith in love?


Title: The Girl In The Ice by Robert Bryndza
Description: Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice…She is not the only one.

When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation.

The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London.

What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding?

As Erika inches closer to uncovering the truth, the killer is closing in on Erika.

The last investigation Erika led went badly wrong… resulting in the death of her husband. With her career hanging by a thread, Erika must now battle her own personal demons as well as a killer more deadly than any she’s faced before. But will she get to him before he strikes again?

A page-turning thriller packed with suspense. If you like Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Karin Slaughter, discover Robert Bryndza’s new series today.

Watch out for more from DCI Erika Foster

She’s fearless. Respected. Unstoppable. Detective Erika Foster will catch a killer, whatever it takes.


Title: The House That Jack Built by Catherine Barry
Description: When life gives you a second chance…

At sixteen years old, Jack Joyce loses her virginity to her brother’s charming and charismatic friend, Matt.

She finds the experience an unexpected disappointment and whilst her friends spend their twenties settling in to their careers, Jack spends it partying, desperately trying to recreate the youth she felt she should have had.

More than a decade on — living in a tiny flat in Dublin, as a single mother and in a dead-end job — she still dreams of Matt, Thin Lizzy and those days of old.

So, bumping into her first love at the point when her future seems its bleakest feels like destiny.

Is this Jack’s second chance?

Matt may be married, and have kids, but surely divine intervention must count for something?

If only Jack can shift some weight and stop drinking, who knows what might happen?

When Matt invites her to join an evening class he's teaching, Jack’s fantasies soar to new heights.

She soon finds that he has set her on the first step of a journey that will change her life forever.

Only it isn’t quite the journey she had in mind…


Title: The War Queen by J.M. Robison
Description: Altarn is the first woman to hold the position of State Head in Blindvar. When Lord Kaelin, State Head of Ruidenthall, propositions her to merger with their states, Altarn believes it’s his subtle way of taking her state for his own, making himself king. On the cusp of war, she rides in disguise to her last ally, Luthsinia, to ask for help.

During her journey, Altarn is ambushed but rescued by a man called Torren who offers her protection. Quickly they realize they share a mutual attraction. Upon their arrival to Luthsinia, Altarn receives news that an army has invaded Blindvar in her absence and blames Kaelin. Except it’s not Kaelin’s army, because she discovers Kaelin is in Luthsinia for the purpose of spying on her to take her land. And Torren is not who she thought he was.

Taking advantage of the unraveling situation, Kaelin kidnaps Altarn so he can take her state without her in the way and brings her to Ruidenthall. There’s a war ship on the horizon, led by a fallen angel craving mortal worship. Kaelin realizes he needs Altarn’s help to fight this army if he’s to save his state. She’s forced to agree, but how will she react when he’s wounded in battle? If she lets him die, can she fight the enemy on her own? Or if she saves his life, will he still try claiming her state, or try claiming her heart?


Title: The Young Wives Club by Julie Pennell
Description: In Toulouse, Louisiana finding your one true love happens sometime around high school. If you’re lucky, he might be the man you thought he was. But as four friends are about to find out, not every girl has luck on her side in this charming debut novel perfect for fans of The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Desperate Housewives.

Laura Landry’s quarterback husband was her ticket out of Toulouse. But when a devastating football injury sidelines him, they’re forced to move back to the small town she was so desperate to leave. As Brian starts drinking instead of rehabbing his knee, Laura must reevaluate what her future looks like…and if it includes her husband.

For years, Madison Blanchette has been waiting for bad-boy musician Cash Romero to commit to her. When wealthy George Dubois asks her out, she figures she may as well wait in style. Life with George means weekend trips to New Orleans, gourmet meals, and expensive gifts. At first she loves how George’s affection sparks Cash’s jealousy, but when George proposes to Madison, she finds herself torn between two men…

All Claire Thibodeaux wants is to be the perfect wife and mother. If she can do everything right she won’t end up like her mom, a divorced, single parent trying to make ends meet. But when Claire’s husband Gavin, a well-respected local pastor, starts spending late nights at work and less time in their bed, she can’t help but fear that history is about to repeat itself…

Gabrielle Vaughn never thought she’d end up with someone like her fiancé. The son of a prominent congressman, Tony Ford is completely out of her league—which is why she lied to him about everything from having a college degree to the dark truth about her family. She knows she has to come clean, but how do you tell the love of your life that your entire relationship is a lie?

As these young wives come together to help each other through life, love, and heartbreak, they discover that there are no easy answers when it comes to matters of the heart.


Title: Southern Spirits by Angie Fox
Description: When out of work graphic designer Verity Long accidentally traps a ghost on her property, she’s saddled with more than a supernatural sidekick—she gains the ability see spirits. It leads to an offer she can’t refuse from the town’s bad boy, the brother of her ex and the last man she should ever partner with.

Ellis Wyatt is in possession of a stunning historic property haunted by some of Sugarland Tennessee’s finest former citizens. Only some of them are growing restless—and destructive. He hires Verity put an end to the disturbances. But soon Verity learns there’s more to the mysterious estate than floating specters, secret passageways, and hidden rooms.

There’s a modern day mystery afoot, one that hinges on a decades-old murder. Verity isn't above questioning the living, or the dead. But can she discover the truth before the killer finds her?


Title: Switching Hour by Robyn Peterman
Description: Released from the magic pokey and paroled with limited power is enough to make any witch grumpy.

However, if you throw in a recently resurrected cat, a lime-green Kia and a sexy egotistical werewolf, it’s enough to make a gal fly off the edge.

Not to mention a mission…with no freaking directions.

So here I sit in Asscrack, West Virginia trying to figure out how to complete my mysterious mission before All Hallows Eve when I’ll get turned into a mortal.

The animals in the area are convinced I’m the Shifter Whisperer (whatever the hell that is) and the hotter-than-asphalt-in-August werewolf thinks I’m his mate.

Now apparently I’m slated to save a bunch of hairy freaks of nature?

If they think I’m the right witch for the job, they’ve swallowed some bad brew.

Friday, October 14, 2016

REVIEW: Twitter Girl by Nic Tatano

Title: Twitter Girl
Author: Nic Tatano
Publisher: Harper Impulse
Publication Date: September, 2014
Genre: Chick Lit
Buy The Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Description: Meet America’s Tweet-Heart.

She’s network reporter Cassidy Shea, better known as @TwitterGirl, with more than a million followers thanks to her sarcastic tweets. One hundred forty characters that can take anyone down a notch.

But while brevity may be the soul of wit, it can also get you fired.

When a controversial tweet goes viral the snarky redhead finds herself locked out of the career she loves… and watches her boyfriend take a hike.

Alas, no industry values sarcasm more than politics, and Cassidy becomes a marketable commodity for Presidential candidate Will Becker, a squeaky-clean, stone cold lock to be the next occupant of the White House. This candidate is unlike any other; he’s the country’s most eligible bachelor. He’s also looking for a running mate, and we’re not talking about a Vice President.

Twitter Girl has caught his eye.

Cassidy finds herself swept up in a whirlwind romance that turns her into the next Jackie Kennedy and becomes the favorite to be the next First Lady. The country can’t get enough of America’s First Couple… will Cassidy and Will Becker bring back Camelot?

But an anonymous tip triggers her journalistic curiosity. Is Will Becker all that he seems? The search for the answer teaches Cassidy the meaning of love.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this story and love the author’s ability to weave a story so entertaining, featuring characters so vivid and real, that the reader feels a connection to them on a personal level. When the story begins, Cassidy Shea has hit rock bottom in her career and her love life. As @TwitterGirl, she has amassed a following of more than a million people, but when one snarky tweet lands her in hot water, she finds herself without a job and a boyfriend. Nobody is more surprised than Cassidy when she is offered a position with the Presidential campaign team of Will Becker. The job is tailor-made for her, offering her special brand of snark and sarcasm directed at the other candidates. Along the way, she begins to develop feelings for the handsome widower candidate.

This story grabbed my attention fast and wouldn’t let go. I was unable to put the book down because I was so intrigued at what would happen next and not with just the blooming romance between Cassidy and Will. The secondary characters, Ripley, Sam and Tyler, were fascinating as well, each with their own personalities and stories that resonate with the reader without drawing them out of the main story.

Nic Tatano is quickly becoming one of my preferred go-to authors when I am in a chick-lit mood. He captures the humor and fun I crave from this genre flawlessly. I highly recommend this book and anything else written by this author if you are looking for an entertaining read that will make you laugh out loud and leave you with a smile on your face.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Twitter Girl from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.


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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)