My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Did you ever see the film, The Great Escape, ladies? We’re Steve McQueen and we’ve just jumped over the wire!

 

Ladywell, it was said, was a place of women; that no man prospered there and that the house itself was hostile to the menfolk, so it became a settled fact in the minds of the townspeople that only an exceptional man would marry happily into the house at Ladywell. That it took an exceptional woman to seize disaster and wallop it into success by sheer force of will was overlooked…

 

My Review:

 

 

Compelling characters and complicated storylines were ingeniously crafted and intricately plotted for a riveting and intriguing read.   I was so caught up in the tale I didn’t dare put my Kindle down for fear something would happen while I was otherwise occupied. This brilliant, puzzling, and mysterious tale involved an unexpected present-day inheritance of house that seemed alive, paternity issues, questionable bloodlines, phantom flowers, immortal hares, healing waters, a well-plotted elder escape, and possible reincarnation of Mrs. Wallis Simpson as a cat. The story was exceptionally well woven and occurred over multiple timelines following the ancestral generations from 4th century AD to the present day; each one well researched and laced together with the complications and proclivities of the issues facing those in their time. I was enthralled, devastated, engrossed, confounded, infested with curiosity, mesmerized, fully engaged, and delightfully entertained by the cleverness of the tale as well as the welcome nips of levity deftly tucked in throughout.

 

Saving Grace

(Fox River Romance #4)

by Jess B. Moore

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Growing up, everyone had a secret crush on a Grace brother. A whispered admission followed by all the reasons it was a bad idea.

 

If I’d been a cartoon, my jaw would have dropped open and flies would have flown into my mouth. He walked in heels? For a good cause?

 

Right. Wrong. They had lost some of their meaning over the years, words worn soft from constant use and too much thought. I had too often done the wrong thing, knowing it, and unable to climb my way out. When I tried to do the right thing, it often turned out to be wrong, and I had lost all concept of which was which.

 

What must it be like to see the world in lines and color? I imagined a mix of vibrancy and shadows, but couldn’t fathom translating objects or people or ideas into art.

 

I adored my baby brothers, but they drove me nuts. Did not care they were technically adults with good reputations. To me, they were brats who made too many fart jokes and cut the hair off my Barbie dolls.

 

 My Review:

 

I don’t know how she does it but Jess B. Moore makes angst palatable rather than painful. She has to be some sort of magical being as she has now pulled off this miraculous and mystifying feat four times, I can think of no other explanation. Her writing is poignant, perceptive, and cunningly emotive; it stings my eyes, squeezes my heart, and plays me like a finely tuned Dobro while hitting all the feels as well as the notes to a haunting and evocative melody.

Written in my favorite dual POV, Saving Grace was a heartrending and deftly penned tale occurred during the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas and dealt with addition, regrets, abuse, shame, small-town gossip, and a load of family drama while an unexpected fledgling romance was slowly gathering speed between two silently struggling acquaintances.   The characters were endearingly flawed and realistically drawn with real-world issues. Brandt had a dark history and tainted reputation and Lola was a girl with magic eyes, and in more ways than one as she could see Brandt when his own family couldn’t. Sigh, I adored them but am now more curious than ever about Hudson, the last remaining Grace brother.

From New York Times Bestselling Author, Kristen Proby, comes an all new paranormal romance set in the mystical city of New Orleans…

Kristen was born and raised in a small resort town in her beloved Montana. In her mid-twenties, she decided to stretch her wings and move to the Pacific Northwest, where she made her home for more than a dozen years.

During that time, Kristen wrote many romance novels and joined organizations such as RWA and other small writing groups. She spent countless hours in workshops, and more mornings than she can count up before the dawn so she could write before going to work. She submitted many manuscripts to agents and editors alike, but was always told no. In the summer of 2012, the self-publishing scene was new and thriving, and Kristen had one goal: to publish just one book. It was something she longed to cross off of her bucket list.

Not only did she publish one book, she’s since published close to thirty titles, many of which have hit the USA Today, New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists. She continues to self publish, best known for her With Me In Seattle and Boudreaux series, and is also proud to work with William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins, with the Fusion Series.

Kristen and her husband, John, make their home in her hometown of Whitefish, Montana.

 

Home is where the heart is …

Alice Dorothy Matthews is sensible. Whilst her best friend Kathy is living it up in Portugal and her insufferable ex Adam is traveling the world, Alice is working hard to pay for the beloved London house she has put her heart and soul into renovating.

But then a postcard from Buenos Aires turns Alice’s life upside down. One very unsensible decision later and she is in Cascais, Portugal, and so begins her lesson in ‘going with the flow’; a lesson that sees her cat-sitting, paddle boarding, dancing on top of bars and rediscovering her artistic talents.

But perhaps the most important part of the lesson for Alice is that you don’t always need a house to be at home.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

You wouldn’t know nonchalant if it knocked on your door and said hello, I’m nonchalant, whispered the voice in her head.

 

Bricks and mortar. They can’t protect you from everything, can they? They can protect you from the wind and the rain and the cold, but they can’t protect you from your emotions.

 

I look like I’ve been living in a cave all my life surviving on a diet of pasties and washing my hair with lard.

 

My Review:

 

Poor Alice, she couldn’t seem to climb out of her gloom as it kept coming at her from all sides, including her own inner voice. Her ex-boyfriend, who had left her with debts, was back and wanting to claim half of her home; she had lost her job and her sparkle; and her inner voice was berating her at every turn. Alice’s tale was insightfully written with clever observational humor, a quirky cast of characters, angst, loss of self, a pyramid full of insecurities, lots of waffling and indecision, a blossoming romance, rekindling of old friendships, high anxiety, self-rediscovery, adventures in a foreign land, paddle boarding, pet-sitting, ambling, jewelry making, photography, artistry, home renovation, and an empowering evolution with defiantly vibrant trousers – which I greedily coveted. I frequently alternated between empathy for Alice and wanting to give her a smack to the back of the head, but I was proud of her and for her by the end.