Tag Archive | kindle

Unfinished Business – Nora Roberts

Jan12


Unfinished Business (Silhouette Intimate Moments) – Nora Roberts

Vanessa is a world renown piano player who returns to the town of her youth. Brady was her high school sweetheart, but he broke her heart when he stood her up on prom night. After her father dies, she returns to her home town for some time for reflection and to decide what she wants out of life.

As usual, for romance novels like these, Brady still loves Vanessa. She has feelings for him too, but she is upset with him for what he did to her all those years ago.

I think that there was not enough communication in this story. Brady should have told Vanessa earlier in the story the REAL reason why did not take her to the prom. And maybe I am so used to external forces causing havoc in young romances, but I could tell straight away that her father has something to do with it. He was too controlling and demanding.

And that seemed to be the elephant in the room. No one wanted to tell Vanessa that her father ruined her relationships in order to isolate her. They just made comments like “That’s odd” and dismissed it.  Her father made sure that she thought he was all she had. I am sure he did it to make sure she stayed focused on her career, but it was in the attainment of goals he wanted, not necessarily the life that she would have chosen for herself.

The bright point of this story for me was that Vanessa finally got her mother’s side of what happened. She was able to deal with the bitterness she felt towards her mother and repair that damaged relationship. This also helps her to make decisions about what she wants out of life in order to be happy. The grudges she held for so long were based on distortions of the truth.

Even though Unfinished Business (Silhouette Intimate Moments) was a romance novel, I think that it was more a story about learning to forgive past transgressions and love family. It is a good, predictable book for a Saturday afternoon.

Click Unfinished Business (Silhouette Intimate Moments) to buy on Amazon

Return of the runaway bride

Jan12


Return of the Runaway Bride
by Donna Fasano

It was their wedding day in Savanna had cold feet. She told her mom she cannot go through with it. Her mom dismissed her concerns and told her not to worry because Danny would be a good provider. Even though Savanna knew this to be true, in that moment, she was feeling so smothered, that she ran away.

Fast forward six years~~~~

Savanna returns to the small town of Fulton Virginia and she is looking for resolution and forgiveness. She is hoping that her hometown can embrace her once more.

A lot has changed since she’s left. Danny now goes by Daniel and he has not even begun to deal with the emotions he felt when she left. Savanna thought he would have been okay and is ready to bury the hatchet. She wanted him to understand why she had to leave, but he was still very bitter and angry. I was thinking “Ummm could be the fact that you DITCHED HIM at the altar!”

Soon enough there is a community project that has them working together, giving Savanna a chance to prove herself (there is always something to tie the main guy/girl together). No longer immature, she is an independent woman and who is still in love with the sweetheart from her teenage years.

I agree that Daniel should not have made it easy for Savanna considering all the pain and anguish she caused him when she left. Saying “Sorry, can we be friends?” Was not going to cut it. When he alluded to the fact that she might run off, abandoning the town once more, she tried not to be hurt that he lacked confidence in her. I was on his side the whole way. She had to pay and prove herself to be trustworthy. Most of all, she had to show Daniel that she was worthy of a second chance if he is understanding enough to accept.

In the book Return of the Runaway Bride , it goes to show that sometimes two people can be in love but their timing to be together could be wrong. When Savanna left Danny/Daniel the timing might have been right for him but it was not right for her. Fortunately for her, when she was mature enough to accept the love that he was willing to give he was still available.

How would beauty change you?

Jan8


Beauty (The Beauty Series)

Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥ ♥

Has ever been something that you wanted and you thought if you had it all your troubles would be over? What would you do if someone offered it to you? How deep is your desire?

Eve thought that if she lost weight, she would be pretty. And if she was pretty, all her troubles would be over. She would have friends that she wanted, the boy that she wanted, the life that she deserves.

Through a twist of fate, she has the body she always wanted. She is skinny.

But nothing ever comes without a price.

What is her price? As long as she stays the person she is, keeps her personality the same, she is able to stay skinny. It would seem to be a simple thing: stay a good person and stay slim.

And then we find out what low she is willing to go just to grasp the life of person she thinks that she wants to be. And as her problems snowball, her body begins to gain weight. As Eve spirals out of control, she has to make definite decisions about what should be important in her life.

  • What leads to true happiness?
  • What good is a friend if he or she is fake?
  • What good is a friend if they do not have your best interests in mind?

Beauty (The Beauty Series) was the worst case scenario for someone who has a chance at something they desired their whole life. It seems that every possible bad decision, Eve made it. All the while she was trying to justify why it was okay. She believed that she could beat the system as if her actions had no consequences.

Beauty (The Beauty Series) was interesting in a very dark way. It could almost be seen as a cautionary tale. In Eve’s case, her desire was weight-loss, but I think that “weight loss” could be a metaphor for any item that you desire with your whole being and you’re willing to sacrifice your life for that.

Some things we feel are worth the sacrifice, but we end up losing more of ourselves in the pursuit of that goal. So, was it worth it?

***warning: this book contains drug abuse, rape, and other disturbing acts

Noble Birth – Brenda Novak

Jan1


Of Noble Birth

The main characters for this romance novel are Nathaniel and Alexandra.

Nathaniel was born with a disabled arm and almost died as a baby by his father’s hands. His mother died soon after giving birth to him and so the maid took him to raise as her own child. Needless to say, he has serious emotional issues. Alexandra starts the story as a seamstress escaping a physically abusive stepfather. Her mother died leaving her with an alcoholic stepfather who was a mean drunk.

The story was very convoluted to me. The synopsis that I read on Amazon did not fully prepare me for the emotional roller coaster that was their romance. Nathaniel kidnaps Alexandra because he thought she was his half-sister. When he finally he believes she is not his sister, you can cue the romance.

Every time I thought their problems were over, something else would happened to separate the couple. Nathaniel’s main nemesis is the father that will not claim him. Knowing that your father tried to kill you at birth will do that.

This romance in a nutshell:

Found love!

Torn apart!

Together again!

Torn apart!

Together again!

Book over. The end.

Because of the highs and lows of the book  Of Noble Birth, it seemed longer than it was. Their love was tested so many times that it made me tired. At one point, I was like “Something else is happening. When is this book going to end?”

However, if you like long drawn out romance novels, then you will like this book. This is the type of book you choose when you have the entire day to read.

Wicked women? Not really

Dec29

I think I helped get a book removed from Amazon.

There was this book called Wicked women’s ways by Kumari Davies. I download it because it was free for the day and I wanted to see who received the designation of “wicked woman”. The blurb sparked interest but once I started reading the book, I was not impressed.

This is a look at women in world history. I don’t know what the author’s methodology was in choosing women for this book. They are famous prostitutes, warriors, and some criminals but not at the level of being wicked as I would believe that to be.

For example the harlot named Rahab hid Israelite spies leading to Jericho’s defeat. I guess she is considered wicked because she was a prostitute? Joan of Arc was also mentioned in the context of being wicked. But considering the fact that she was pronounced innocent years after her death, does that negate the fact that she was executed?

There are plenty of other women throughout history that I would consider more wicked then the women listed in this book.

The book did talk about women that I previously did not even know existed, but very few did I think were worth calling wicked. If a man had done some of the same things, he would be called courageous or valiant.

With e-books, it can be easy for a reader to get scammed because all you have to go on is the blurb about the book and the reviews. If the book had stayed free or even been $.99, I might not have bothered. The book regular price was $2.99

The fact that the book was so expensive for such little quality, I had to say something.

I put a scathing review on Amazon’s website. I did not want to imagine that someone would waste their money.

Now the link to the book is gone.

All searches for that author do not bring up that book. I searched every possible combination of title/author and it is not there.

Hope the author learns from this. Publishing a book is not copying and pasting some words and uploading to Amazon website.

Put some thought into your writings and I will gladly pay and give good reviews 🙂