Sweetshop of Dreams

This book is a re-release of a 2014 book that sounded good in theory, but in the actual reading wasn't what I expected.  I wanted to give up on reading it several times, but muddled my way through it.  

Rosie Hopkins is called by her mother to go and help her great aunt who fell and broke her leg.  Rosie's mom, Angie, wants Rosie to sell her aunt Lillian's sweetshop and put Lillian in a nursing home.  Rosie is an auxiliary nurse with enough medical knowledge to help Lillian out, so she leaves London to go to Lipton to do what she can.  

Rosie takes on the care of her aunt, her aunt's sweetshop, and the care of a few other people in Lipton, including helping the local doctor take care of an injured dog.  Even though she has a boyfriend, her affections seem to float all over the place with a couple of single men in the area. 

I've never read anything by Jenny Colgan, and probably won't read anything by her again, simply because I prefer clean romances, and this was not that.  Her characters were fleshed out and her settings were easily imaginable.  Her writing is good for what it is, but it doesn't fit my preferences.  I didn't like the book, but others will love it.  It's a matter of taste 

Four Stars

Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

 

Provenance

 

Imagine never knowing who your family was or where you came from, living your life in foster home after foster home, always feeling abandoned, and then you get a letter from an attorney saying that your grandmother has left you her entire estate, but there is a deadline for claiming it. This was the life of Kendall Green, the main character in Carla Laureano's newest book, Provenance. 

Both Kendall and Gabe, the other primary character in the book have had an education in the school of hard knocks, which makes this book so interesting.  The characters are not over-the-top perfect and that makes them relatable to the reader. 

I have watched enough Antiques Roadshow to know that the provenance of a piece adds to its value, it's the pedigree, so to speak. What Kendall doesn't know is her own provenance and alternately hopes and dreads finding it through her grandmother's estate.  

I have read a few of Carla's books and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Her writing is engaging and compelling.  This book is one I lost sleep over, because I just couldn't put it down.  Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a genuine Eames chair to sit in and read. 

Tyndale House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

The Nature of a Lady

Roseanna M White is an author I have enjoyed and appreciated for a few years.  She writes romance with a spot of intrigue thrown in for good measure.  That is why I chose to read The Nature of a Lady, assuming I would enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed some of her others.  There are three characters whose names are some variant of Elizabeth--Lizza, Beth, and Lady Elizabeth or Libby.  All three have something to do with one cottage on one of the Scilly Islands. Lizza is the wife of  a pirate long since dead, Beth is the sister of the vicar who took to the cottage for a vacation and then disappeared, and Libby takes over the cottage while trying to escape her brother's match-making machinations. 

Roseanna has populated the book with heroes, villains, and people masquerading as something other than they truly are. While there are parts of the book that are truly enjoyable, I found that the time it took her to set up the plot was a bit long and sluggish.  Part of the reason I didn't appreciate this book as much as her others may simply be a matter of taste.  It just didn't grab my interest the way other of her books have. Other readers will be drawn into the plot quite easily, it just wasn't the book for me.  

If it weren't for the sluggishness in the beginning, the book would be worth more stars, but I can only give it three.  

Bethany House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 
 

Castle of Refuge

 

I love Melanie Dickerson's adaptations of fairy tales to Christian fiction for young adults, partially because I have never out-grown fairy tales and partially because I like keeping up with literature for children and young adults.  While Castle of Refuge is not a specific fairy tale (that I can remember), it does draw the reader in like a fairy tale does.  This book reminds me in so many ways of a book by Lori Wick called "The Knight and the Dove." There are many premises that are similar.  

• Audrey (CoR) has an older sister, Maris, who is her nemesis.  Megan (KaD) has an older sister Marigold who plays the same part. 
• Maris and Marigold are sociopathic in their actions and attitudes. 
• Maris and Marigold also find men who are willing to do their bidding in their schemes.
• Audrey and Megan, while victims of their sisters' machinations, find refuge in a Knight and his castle.
• Their fathers are less than protective and fatherly toward their daughters. 
• Audrey and Megan find purpose in teaching the young girls in their respective villages to read. 

Melanie has woven her own tale in this book and makes it an enjoyable read.  I love reading medieval fiction and this book fits that bill quite nicely.  It's just that from the outset, I could see similarities to a book written almost twenty years ago.  It made me smile because it was like seeing an old friend after being apart for many years.  Melanie has done a great job in creating a plot that moves along at a good pace.  Her descriptive talents make the setting come alive and produce characters who are multidimensional. 

Because Castle of Refuge is titled as being A Dericott Tale, I am assuming that there will be other books to come in a series.  It intrigues me to think of whose story will be next and I am excited to see which one it will be.  

This book earns four strong stars, only because I am so familiar with a similar tale by another author. 

Thomas Nelson and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

If You Can't Be With the One You Love, . . .

When I got into this book, I was reminded of a movie I saw in the early 1980s called A Small Circle of Friends.  The premise was pretty much the same between the movie and the book, but Lauren K Denton's take on the situation was handled with much grace and aplomb.  

Mac and Graham are friends who both love Edie, and Edie loves both of them--but differently.  Mac and Edie have dated since junior high school with the exception of one summer when Mac goes to work at a marina on the beach and Edie goes to New York for an internship. Their lives are intertwined early on, but for a number of years Mac and Edie haven't interacted with Graham.  When Edie is asked to do the interior design for a house of a client, she comes back into contact with Graham.  About the same time, Mac's summer on the beach comes back to haunt him in the person of a daughter he didn't know he had. 

Lauren takes this very real situation and works through the ins and outs of saving relationships, building a solid foundation for a family, and giving grace and mercy where it's needed most.  She also takes on working life in that there is more to life than grinding out the work hours: there is giving back, there is fulfilling basic creativity, there is finding satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment in the job. 

There is a sense of wanting a do-over among the characters, even though some things can't be "done over.," while at the same time there are choices and chances to be taken every day.  

Lauren makes her novel one of enjoyment, yes, but at the same time there are aspects that can lead the reader to personal growth.  Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a chance to make the right decision.  

Thomas Nelson and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

Let It Be Me

 

This is the second book in a series by Becky Wade, but it reads well as a stand-alone.  This is not the first novel I've read by this author and I love her writings.  Whenever she comes up in a list on NetGalley.com, you will be sure that I will be requesting her books. 

Leah has been given a DNA test by her mother to help her find more of her roots.  Her mother thinks nothing is amiss when Leah gets the results that prove she's not related to her family at all.  Her mother is aghast and believes the DNA company messed up, but when the second results come back the same as the first, Leah begins to dig. From the very beginning, the plot goes sideways and gets rather convoluted, but the way Becky has tied all the elements together in this book make it a very satisfying read. 

Through Leah's friend, Ben, she meets a man whom she had helped in a car accident about six months previously.  Leah fights her attraction to Sebastian because she feels that romance is not for her, and Sebastian fights his attraction to Leah because Ben has had a huge crush on her for the longest time.  When Sebastian is given the green light by Ben to pursue Leah, she is not really accepting of his advances.  It takes a lot of work for Sebastian to get through her defenses and to touch Leah in a way that is lasting. 

The premise of Leah's story in this book is that she was switched at birth in the hospital where she was born.  As she investigates all the information she can find about the circumstances of her birth, she finds the one key to the whole conundrum--her friend, Tess Coventry.  This is the one part of the book that does not make sense to me.  Tess has switched two healthy babies for no other reason that revenge, but neither set of parents ever suspect a thing.  There was no good basis for Tess's actions--the revenge she wanted never came about. 

There are plots and subplots that are left hanging in the book that would lend themselves to another book or two in the series.  To be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing a novel come out about some of the other characters--Ben is one I'd like to see find his one true love.  There is a subplot about the "Miracle Five," who were caught in an earthquake in El Salvador during  youth missions trip, and Luke, one of the five, has just come out of prison.  I'd like to see how his story plays out.  I'm never really happy until all the loose ends have been tied up satisfactorily.  

Four Strong Stars, it would have been five except for Tess's reasons for switching Leah at birth. 

Bethany House and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

Always a Wedding Planner

Barbour Publishing has put together four charming stories centered on everyone else's happily ever after.  Four business partners in Weddings by Design meet their soul mates in these narratives and find their own happily ever afters.  

Felicity is the cake baker who bakes dreams for brides.  When Olivia's brother accompanies her to the taste testing appointment, Felicity meets the man who has loved her forever.  This one was my favorite of the four.  There was more character development and more fun involved in the progression of the story. 

Kiki is the dress designer whose very position in the business is being sabotaged by her partner's cousin who has been hired as office manager.  The office manager has her sights set on a man who has his own sights set on Kiki.  This story provided more tension among the characters, but with a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion. 

Cassie is the introverted coordinator who needs to hire a limousine service, but has a hard time getting past her impressions of the limo owner/driver to see who he really is. Her cousin/office manager's shenanigans are still not fully dealt with in this one.  This was my least favorite of the four. 

Ronnie is the caterer who loses her sense of taste and smell because of a sinus infection she contracted during a cruise with her mom.  She has to hire a plumber to take care of gas leak in her house and without telling him what she's doing, she enlists his help in tasting her recipes so that she provides good food for the weddings she has on her schedule.  The solution to her sinus problems came almost miraculously and that, for me, was the most unsatisfying part of the tale. 

Each of these novellas is sweet in its own way and entertains the reader for a while, and provides a brief escape from the duties of real life.  This is a four star book. 

Barbour Publishing and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own.