Elly in Bloom: Colleen Oakes

Elly left her home when she discovered her husband cheating on her and he has tried since then to look back on what she left in Georgia. Settled in the Saint Louis area, with a new best friend. She establishes herself with a business, a florist and is sought out by brides for weddings.

When the biggest wedding she has ever been offered walks in she can't turn it down. The financial security it would provide is something she can't pass up. Until, a part of her past comes back to haunt her and it is directly related to this wedding. Is the money worth the cost it might be emotionally. With her friends around her, including Snarky Teenager one of her employee's (how can you not love that name for a character). Elly has some decisions to make for herself and has to face what those decisions might cost her.

I enjoyed this book. It really fit the time of year we are in right now and thought it was a great read to pickup during the spring time, that is just my opinion since flowers make me think about spring. A few parts of the plot were a little predictable, in that I could see things coming. But, oddly I didn't find that as distracting as it could have been.

For the character of Elly I found her well flushed out and relatable. I thought that she acted in a very real way to the situations she was put in, not going overboard in the dramatic or acceptance of things. The other characters I found were developed enough for what they needed to do and the role they placed in Elly's life, but beyond that there wasn't anything to them. That disappointed me in a few ways, but didn't distract from the plot overall.

Overall, I would suggest you to pickup this book. It was a nice fun book that kept you wanting to keep reading. As a nice light fun read that would be nice to enjoy in the park on a bench under a tree. 3 Stars!


This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Staged: Ruby Preston

Scarlett from SHOWBIZ is back. With her own production company she is ready to present her first work on broadway, Swan Song. The problem is that she can't get a theater, but she can't let that hold her back. So, she works on finding a director, gets a young hollywood star as a lead lined up. As she keeps working on a place to present the work Scarlett has to consider what lines she is willing to cross and how many friends she is willing to alienate in order to pursue her dream.

I still love Preston's works. I am excited to see that this is a trilogy, so we will be able to continue to read about Scarlett and maybe see her dream come to fruition. Again as a theater person I found this plot very relatable, but don't think that others who don't have a theater background would be lost. Scarlett is developed in this book, but I personally think if you didn't have the background of the first book on her and some of her main supporting friends you may be a little lost. Having read both of the books I could relate to Scarlett and the situations she found herself in and feel due to that I could understand why she made some of the decisions she did in a way you might not without the background.

I would highly recommend this book to others especially someone who worked in theater/did theater as a hobby or even just someone who always wished they could work in theater. This plot focused more on the life outside the theater then the last one, but you knew that aspect was still there. Someone who enjoys Smash the television show would enjoy this book.

I was disappointed by a few aspects of this book compared to the last. That was time passed between the two books and character development/relationships changed in that time and those changes were not well presented to the reader but as kind of second hand news/after the fact oh yeah I should tell you details to fill us in. I personally would have liked to know more about those relationships too and have gotten that insight. I think that part of it for me was I felt like I knew the characters and they were like my friends, so I would like to know about the details I missed. That is just me and didn't distract from the overall plots.

I have to give this book 4 stars in it lacked a few things for me, but it was still really enjoyable. I would encourage others to go read it and the others in the series.


This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Death Turns a Trick (Rebecca Schwartz Mysteries #1): Julie Smith

Rebecca Schwartz, is a Jewish Feminist lawyer, who has found herself legal representation too and a growing friendship with operator of a bordello co-op. She happens to play the piano too, it is what her Mother wanted her to peruse but more of a stress reliving pastime for her. One night she ends up playing the piano for a party in whorehouse and during a police raid finds her job is to get a near0naked senator out. She finds herself picked up and spending some time at the Hall of Justice explaining her situation.
Finally, home Rebecca finds one of the girls from her the party earlier dead on her living room floor. The next morning she finds out that her new beau, Parker Phillips, is the brother of the dead hooker and has been arrested for her murder. With a new client to defend, a murder to investigate that has all sorts of new clues and things popping up in her apartment, and the press keep running into her. Especially, reporter Rob Burns who starts to help Rebecca, but the lines are starting to get blurred a little there too.

I enjoyed reading about Rebecca and feel like this book did a great job at establishing a character for Rebecca. I think there were some great support character that were built and established in this book too. As well as a mystery that was set up and solved in a say that it wasn't obvious to the reader the whole time, but wasn't a complicated mess to unravel either. I did find the end of the book a little abrupt at first. I don't know why, everything was really wrapped up. For, me it was this is just kind of how it all worked out and scene. But, I felt like I was ready to move on and read more about the characters. I think the Rebecca Schwartz has places it is going to go.

I would recommend this book to others who enjoy mysteries and were looking for a series. I would give it three stars.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

The Darling Girls: Emma Burstall

Cat had only been with Leo for a little over a year, but it was the most passionate relationship she has ever been in. Attending his funeral she has to face the other parts of his life though. Victoria, who Leo had two children with a 17 year old and an 8 year old. Victoria was for all purposes Leo’s wife yet he never would marry her. There is also Maddy, who is also the mother of Leo’s youngest, and also Leo’s mistress. These women all seemed to kind of know about each other, though Cat is news to Maddy at first, but hadn’t meet each other before. Through together to figure out how each of them are going to survive without Leo, who they all seemed to depend on in a way especially financially. Piecing together how they fit into Leo’s life and maybe each other lives now.

The narrative rotates between focusing on each of the women, Cat, Victoria and Maddy. How each of them are effected by not only the change and lose of Leo, but also these new other women who all seem to find themselves becoming a part of each other’s lives and depended on each other in way they never would have thought possible before. Victoria goes about learning about Leo and more of his past that she feels compelled to share with the others. Maddy is finding that Ralph, Victoria’s oldest, is seeking comfort from the change in situation with her and his youngest half-sister. With changes in financial situation and growing closer to Ralph, Maddy finds herself walking a fine line of what she wants to do and what might be appropriate. Cat is just trying to tread water and figure out what direction to go. With these new women in her life she is getting help that she didn’t exactly ask for, but with her own Mother having checked out maybe it is just what she needs.

I enjoyed reading this book. I liked how all the characters were individuals yet there stories are woven together. I personally felt that I could relate to the character of Cat a bit more, maybe because she was closer to my own age, but at the same time I felt connected to the other women too. It felt a bit like Little Women in that way to me, where different readers feel the book is about  a particular character based on who they related too. The flow between character here and how they each grew, learned and help each other is what really appealed to me on this book. I would give it 4 stars and would suggest it to others. This was a great book to start the new year with.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Unmasking Maya: Libby Mercer

Maya has left behind her past in NYC and is trying to make it in the art world of San Francisco. Part of leaving behind the scandal that haunts her she changes her name and mediums from fashion to art working with textiles in the art world. Getting a commission for an installation at a tech company in the Silicone Valley area. Derek Whitley, the CEO of the company, doesn't seem to like her work. Yet, he commissions Maya to do the work, and she is determined to make something that he will like, even if she doesn't understand his unemotional, robotic, workaholic ways.

As Maya and Derek work together and are thrown together with events around the commission they start to learn more about each other and breakdown the walls that each of them have built. But, as secrets are reveled will it bring them together or will to many secrets tear them apart.

I hadn't read a book on my ipad/kindle recently. So, I am not sure if this is related to that vs being a physical book, but once I got started on this book I just couldn't put it down and  wanted to keep reading. The book started with Maya having a secret that she kept even from the reader and it seems to take us the reader the whole time to kind of earn Maya's trust and find out all the secrets. Same with Derek, you feel like there is something more that Maya needs to find out and it takes us most of the plot to figure it out.

Something I did notice is that things in this book seemed to move really fast in terms of relationships/friendships. But, that worked here, I could appreciate how  it moved at a pace that worked for the characters.

I was a little concerned about this book since the description made it seem like a cliche romance, but I didn't find it that way at all. The characters were developed well and believable, in I didn't feel they became cliches. That I personally really appreciated and made it easier for me to recommend this book to others. I would give this book 4 Stars and suggest it to anyone looking for a quick fun read. I was advised it is being released soon and you should got check it out. Link is

I was provided a copy of this book by the author in exchange for a review, but the summary and opinions are my own.

Las-Minute Love: (Year of the Chick Series): Romi Moondi

Romi from Year of the Chick is back, see my review of the first book. Now, that Romi's sister is engaged her parents are a bit more distracted. So, in this book her parents weren't pushing guys at her as much, though they did still have that expectation, maybe Romi was just better at ignoring it and didn't need to focus on it with her readers. In this one we hear about the success of the first book, but which is also really important, you could read the book on it's own and it can stand on it's own.

Again, this book was set up in a way that you wanted to just keep reading and figure out how Romi is going to deal with each of the situations. Personally, I think I enjoyed this novel more than Year of the Chick since you got to see more of Romi as a character. You could see how she had grown and changed through the last book, between them, and could continue to grow. She still got caught up in a guy in this plot, but there was more to her than just the guy and her writing this time. You knew her, I felt like this time. She talked about what she enjoyed in her spare time, beyond writing, you got to know some of her friends and more than just how she took her problems to them. It felt deeper and more about the character than the first one to me, even though I enjoyed the first one, I feel like I enjoyed this one more.  Romi made some great growth as a character and I can't wait to see what happens with her next chapter in the series.

I am conflicted on the rating to give this book. It is a enjoyable book, again not an intro to the chick lit genre, but a relatable book in the genre and worth reading. Still found it different then any chick lit book, I would give it 3.5 stars I think to show I liked it more than the first, but I just don't feel like it is necessarily a 4 star all the way. I will round up though. And do go read this because, Romi becomes a character that you care about and want to succeed, in love, standing up to her parents, and just being herself in the way she dreams.


This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Don't Let Me Go: Catherine Ryan Hyde

Grace sits on the steps of her apartment building so that someone will see that she's in trouble and needs help. Billy is a former dancer and an agoraphobic that never leaves his apartment, till he is pulled onto the balcony to find out what a little girl is doing on the stoop each day. The neighbors in the building end p coming together to help Grace and she pulls each of them out of their own little worlds too. They find that they all really have been lonely. Now, they have someone who needs them. Rayleen, the manicurist who takes Grace in the evening and makes sure she gets to school, kind of the one who spearheads the whole concept. Felipe, who walks Grace home from school and is teaching her spanish. Billy, takes Grace in after school, and teaches her to dance. Mr. Lafferty is a bit bigoted to the other neighbors and seems angry, but Grace has a way to melt parts of his heart. Ms. Hinman, says she is to old to help, but find she wants to and enjoys a lost hobby in making Grace some new clothes. They all come together and help Grace and each other, pulling Billy really out of his apartment. That is until Grace's Mother comes out of her drug induced stupor and takes Grace away from everyone.

This book took me a little to get into, but I really got into it towards the end. I appreciated how all of the  characters were built up and developed. The chapters alternated between from Billy's perspective and Grace's. I liked the child's perspectives alternating to the adults, with different information given in both. All of the characters changed and grew through out the plot of the book.

I would suggest this book to others as a nice fun read. It has some moments that are deep and the characters do great growth other the plot, but it isn't made have to really think intellectual. I hope that others enjoy it too. 4 Stars


This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Dewitched: The untold story of the evil queen: EL Sarnoff

The Evil Queen is sentenced to what appears to be life in prison/the dungeon for the attempted murder of Snow White. After serving some of her time, Jane Yvel, also know as the Evil Queen has someone take pity on her and instead of staying the dungeon she is sent to Faraway. Jane thinks she is being sent to a spa, but what Faraway turns out to be is Evil Rehab for fairy tale characters.

Jane works through her issues, makes friends, and actually starts to care about others so she is sent back into the world. Her biggest fear after rehab is facing Snow White and pain that she caused her. But, that pain may cost Jane more than she ever realized, but there could be other influences at play that Jane has been suppressing for years.

There are some spoilers in the review, so if you don't want any spoilers be warned, but I shall try to keep them vague as to not give away the whole plot.

One of my favorite lines from Wicked the musical, but I love the novel too.
"Are people born Wicked? Or do they have Wickedness thrust upon them?"

I think this plot is really looking at this quote in relation to Evil. Is Jane and the other characters who visit Faraway Evil/Wicked, or do they just not know better or have been trained that way, following examples. They just need redirection to learn or be shown something new and different and then they can be the person they are meant to be or can at least now be a contributing part of society.

So, Faraway shows them another way to look at things and contribute to society. Bring out the best part of the characters and helping them be who they should be? Or changing their fate? I think the characters all have to learn something much like many of us all have to learn something and how our past effects or changes us.

With that I will leave you with the rest of the wicked quote "After all, she had a father. She had a mother, as so many do..." and I think this is important to consider that is what comes next.

This was an enjoyable read for me. I would give it 4 stars. I feel like the plot have a creative way to deal with complicated issues that many people deal with. While it also keeps the plot moving and light hearted and as an enjoyable read. I look forward to more from Sarnoff and hearing more again Jane and I think Sarnoff has given us an interesting ways to consider fairy tales.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Connect with EL Sarnoff!

http://www.elsarnoff.com/

http://www.facebook.com/ElSarnoff

https://twitter.com/elsarnoff

elsarnoff@gmail.com

Buy the Book!

http://www.amazon.com/Dewitched-Untold-Story-Queen-ebook/dp/B0089YA7W0

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dewitched-el-sarnoff/1112316812?ean=2940044729957

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/178067

http://www.amazon.com/DEWITCHED-Untold-Story-Evil-Queen/dp/0615673163/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345914940&sr=1-6&keywords=Dewitched

Showbiz, A Novel: Ruby Preston

Scarlett Savoy had been the assistant of Margolies "King of Broadway" for the past four year. Getting through the day to day time, by telling herself that she is training herself and learning to be a producer herself. She is finally start to get somewhere with her own producing project. Unfortunately, it falls as the same time as Margolies biggest project ever is coming to a head.
The head theater critic at the main newspaper in town commits suicide and secrets he has been coving for years are threatening to coming out and definatly getting harder for those who know them to hide. A theater gossip columnist is up to replace the critic and when he and Scarlett start something, they are each finding themselves on other sides of secrets that could be enough to break the relationship they are forming.
Everyone has to make some choices about what they feel is important and how they want to proceed with their career and lives.

I personally really enjoyed this novel. Theater is a large part of my life (my husband and many of my friends are actually stagehands) and it is one of my other hobbies. So, I was able to relate to this book on levels that others without theater background might not be able to relate too. That being said, it was also written in a way that if you didn't know theater you can follow what is going on and happening.

When you read the initially description of this book it appears to be set up kind of like a mystery. I tried to drop most of that from my summary because I just didn't feel like that was the focus of the plot and there wasn't much of a mystery for the reader as both sides were being shown and it was easy for the reader to piece it together. The characters were able to quickly put the pieces together too and just needed the proof that they had to work at. So, seeing it as a novel with a plot of characters out to prove themselves and to grow this plot fits better.

I would give this book 4 stars as it isn't really what you exact at first it is a good developed lot that builds characters and had a plot with good movement. I think this is defiantly a good start of series where we could see more of the characters and I want to know more about the characters. I hope that Preston keeps writing and making parts of theater more accessible to the general public.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

A Year to Remember: Shelly Bell

When Sara's younger brother gets married on her 29th birthday and she is surprised with a speech things don't go exactly as she planned. She starts a lovely speech about soul mates, but ends it with a vow to be married by her 30th birthday a year away. The plot follows Sara through the media frenzy she is forced into after her vow makes it to YouTube and how she heads out on her search for love/marriage.

Sara joins the online dating pool, does speed dating, and follows up on other connections. All the while listening to others advice and doing what she seems to think people want her to do or she is expected to do to reach towards her goal. Thinking she know what she wants and starts a relationship. But, maybe it is time for Sara to figure out what she really wants and that might not be what she originally expected, or she thinks others want from her.

Part of what I really appreciated about this book is that how Sara grew through out the year of this plot. She learned about herself and grew and that is what I like seeing in main characters in novels that I enjoy. Sara made her mistakes in the year and learned about her friends. In that learning and growing she came into herself and learned what she really wanted for herself.

I have to give this book 4 stars in that I enjoyed reading it and really couldn't put it down in parts as I wanted to see how Sara worked it all out. It is not a deep book, but if you are looking for a nice read and to see character growth this is one to pickup.


This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Rock Star's Girl (A Hollywood Dating Story) : J.F. Kristin

Emily spends her time maintaining her fashion blog and enough freelance work to just make the ends meet. But, she takes one evening off to see her friend Jesse's band preform. At the event she meets Cory Sampson the lead singer in another band, which has already had at least one hit and potential for more.
Suddenly, Emily finds herself half of the new it couple on all the celebrity blogs and gossip sites. That is not only effecting her personal life, but her professional life, as advertisers and freelance gigs come and go with her popularity, but it is changing her relationships too. With Jesse and Cory both wanting something or not sure if they want something from her new found popularity. Emily has to make a choice for herself and figure out how she is going to precede with her life and career.

I enjoyed this book and would defiantly give it three stars. But, there was nothing there to push it over the edge to an amazing book for me. I would recommend it was a nice read and I liked the insight it gave into blogging/celebrity gossip, but it wasn't deep and didn't deal with issues that many can relate to. Overall, I do have to say that you should read it if you are look for a nice read that keeps your attention, but you don't have to think about.

Kat Fight: Dina Silver

Kat has always wanted to be married and have her one family, especially since her parents got divorced when she was young. She has been with Marc since college and even though they fight she and her friends/family have assumed they are meant to be together and it is just a matter or time before they get married. Marc has been having less and less time fore Kat lately though and Kat id starting to lose patients. After, being blown off again in a moment Kat tells Marc to lose her number. Not hearing from him for two weeks she accepts that it really has ended this time and she starts to move on.
Her best friend, Julie, sets her up on a bind double date with her and Kat finds herself more intrigued by Julie's date, Ryan, then her own. When Ryan shows up at Kat's work and seems to have an interest in her things get complicated. Add to that Marc showing back up realizing that he might have made a mistake. Kat has some light trending and tough decisions to make or she could end up losing more than she realized when she started playing with hearts and friendships.

I really enjoyed this plot. I felt like I could really relate to Kat as a character, she was well rounded and grew through out the novel. The supporting cast where there and developed enough that I could get behind them, but I wasn't distracted by their stories. I think the story that Kat is living and lessons she is learning are relate able and are ones you can say been there done that, know someone who did, or yeah that could have happened to me.

There was a preview of Silver's debut novel One Pink Line at the back of this book and in reading that I know I need to go pick that one up. I like the voices that Silver created for her characters and they are relatable. I look forward to reading more of her work.

I give this book a strong 4 stars. It could be seen as strong in the chick lit genre but has relate able characters and make for a fun light read, even when it is deal with deeper issues.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Blank Slate Kate: Heather Wardell

Kate wakes up one morning in a stranger bed, hungover and the last thing she remembers is being 17 and in high school. At least she might be Kate, that is what she told Jacob, who's bed she woke up in, her name was. She spends the net few weeks trying to piece together her life and the past 15 years together.
Not only does she learn about how the world changed, 9-11, iPhone, twitter, it is all new to her now. But, what kind of life has she lived, who is her husband, and what are the secrets that she has been keeping from her friends (the ones that she might have still) and her family that she doesn't remember now.
Slight spoiler, Kate never fully gets her memories back. But, we do see her piece her life together and learns from it what she doesn't want to do again, keep secrets, and how she can change her path now.

I could really appreciate and enjoyed this novel. Mental problems was one of the underlying issues and though I don't have them to the extend the main character does I could appreciate how she felt with them and was overwhelmed. She had to relearn about it after she lost her memories and realized that maybe she was trying to forget with her memory lose. But, she can't just keep running away which is what she seems to be keep doing. As she pieces her life back together.

I won this book in a contest and I am so glad that I did. I really enjoyed it and felt I need to read it with how it dealt with mental health. I have to give this book 4 stars and I would recommend this book to others who enjoy chick lit and want to see a way that mental health can be face and see what many in society have to deal with.

Dancing Naked in Dixie: Lauren Clark

Julia is use to the fast paced life, living in NYC and spending most of her time passing through airports to exotic locations as a travel writer for Getaway magazine. She has to meet with her new boss thought and he has other plans for her. Knowing Julia's past David sends her to Eufaula, Alabama. Julia has to write the piece of her life to save her job, but as she tours the town and gets use to a slower pace Julia learns there might be more at stake then just her job.  With the slower pace she has to face her past, her future, and the past of others in her life too. As some of the secrets just might need to come out and be saved now.

I could relate to Julia and I think that is part of why this novel really appealed to me. She is as accident prone as I am at times. She is just built as a well rounded character for me. We didn't get all of her background at the start, but all was revealed as we needed it, which I appreciated and I think added to the readers experience.

Two thing I would have liked more is a bit more description about some of the characters looks and the settings. I had some very general ideas of what the houses she was touring looked like. But at times I wanted more to get a better picture. As odd as it is I would appreciate pictures with it, to give the readers some general ideas. And I would have liked to read the article that Julia wrote that made the difference in the story. Overall, those elements being missing weren't enough to distract me from the aspects of the book that I liked, so I still recommend it.

I would give this book 4 stars as it kept me reading and I liked the development of the main character and the development of the plot. I would recommend this book to others who enjoy chick lit and those who are interested in travel, seeing different places through different eyes.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Strings of Color: Marian L. Thomas

A quote starts each chapter in the book and I felt it was the way to start this review.

"Everything we go through in life is like a string of color, which pulls us this way or that." She said as she crossed one sting over the other. "That's how come we get so twisted in life. Can't grab our own strings and pull them in the direction we want them to go. No, we allow someone to not only hook us but to sting us along."

The plot follows 4 women and the men around them. Simone, a talented young singer but as she learns about her family and past she has to consider how far she will go for love now. Naya a jazz singer, who has built a world around her that seems to be falling down around and and now she really has to face secrets of her past. Mona, has to face the secrets of her past with all the changes that are happening around her, but how much damage has she done and can fix it now. Misty, has lived her life one way and thought one thing for so long when she finds out that might not be all the truth is she going to be able to face the changes she knows in her heart she needs to make.

The plot of all of these character's lives are entwined throughout this whole plot. There are moments where I couldn't keep them all straight and sometimes I still am confused by their pasts and how they are all related. But, it is in a good way, a way that I know they all go together and know that their relationships will work out together.

The confusion worked in this plot for me. It drew me in to the plot as I wanted to see all the elements work out. And see how all the characters grew, learned and faced what they need to through the plot. I would give this book 4 stars, but I do still need to read it again to make sure I understood all the elements.

This review is part of chick lit is the new black tour. I was provided a copy of the book, but the thoughts and summary are my own.

Single in the City: Michele Gorman

Hannah decided to dive right in when she went to change things about her life. Single again, after being dumped, and laid off laid from her job Hannah decides she should go to London. So, without a plan or a return ticket she heads off. A new city, where she doesn't know anyone, has a short time before she will have to leave if she can't find a job (which she then has to get permission to work), but at least she speaks the language right? Hannah soon learns that she may not know as much as she thought about the British, but that isn't going to stop her from trying to make friends, find a relationship, and working to find a way to stay in her new adopted city.

I really enjoyed reading Hannah's story and am looking forward to Misfortune Cookie the next book that follows Hannah. Which Gorman made interactive with her readers too, as she wrote parts based on polls from her blog. Which I love that idea and fun participating in a few times. It is published this week check it out here.

Back to this story about Hannah. I personally found Hannah pretty relateable. Yes, she did tend to go to extremes in situations, but in a way that seemed reasonable that someone may actually react or at least consider reacting. She was a little accident prone and feel into some situations in ways that I do or would happen to me. Which might be why I can relate to Hannah, but also the writing just makes here relateable I think.

How the supporting characters were handled was well done too. We did only know what Hannah knew, but that worked and I still felt like I knew most of the supporting characters. Even as Hannah just meet people she still managed to introduce them to the reader without it becoming awkward in also learning about the new character, yet she was still able to describe for the reader the people she had know and was familiar with before too.

I guess I would just say that I really enjoy Gorman's writing style. And would suggest this book to others, giving it 4 stars.  The plot is typical chick lit at times, but it does give a different perspective.

She Tells All: Judah Lee Davis

The goodreads description of this book is:
"After finding a pair of magic stilettos that transform her into the ultimate hot goddess, Madison Miller is certain she will get lucky tonight. But in her quest to find the ultimate hottie, she finds something so unexpected.

Now, as she takes a good, hard look at her life, she relives the past that transformed her into a vainglory vixen and realizes an important lesson about why she should NEVER sleep with strangers."

I felt the need to include the summary written for this book on goodreads, since I was going to have trouble writing me own. This plot is about Madison and after one more night of embarrassing herself, so goes back to reflect back on how she got to where she is now. A single mother, with a string of ex's that have all effected her in some way, yet she looks to find another to hurt her again when it is over. What will she learn in looking back now, and can she finally find peace.

This book was not really my cup of tea. I personally couldn't relate to the character and couldn't understand why she was making the choice she kept making. She did finally learn something at the end, but it was that she learned something and didn't grow really.  But, I felt it was well written and that I could see the character was built well.

I would give this book a 3 star rating since the writing was actually decent. When it comes to suggesting it to others, I would say it was well written, but the content might not appeal to everyone.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

Favorable Conditions: Kathleen Kole

Pat has spent the past 18 years of her life running the household and putting her family first. Now, her youngest is off to college and has moved I with her long term boyfriend, her oldest doesn't need her anymore, her husband left a year ago and she seems to be rattling around in the family home. Now, that she has the chance to put herself and what she wants first can Pat do it. Or will she fall back into old habits of letting people (who now are just passing through her life and visiting again) change her fate and happiness or will she finally stand up for herself and choose what she wants.

Kole has done it again building amazing characters and with their development keeping the plot moving. This story could have turned into a bit of a pity party like most of our lives due at times. I think Kole did a great job of acknowledging the time where the character went through some of her mourning, but didn't let those times take over. She had appropriate amount of time pass and then we pickup the story with acknowledgement of the past time, but the character is picking up the pieces and moving on again.

I was worried with this novel and the main character being at such a different point in her life then me that I would have a hard time relating to her. Surprisingly, I didn't I could relate to Pat and the situations around her even though I don't have personal experiences like that to relate them too. I think this goes back to the great character that Kole builds, in all of her works that I have read. Also, I felt like Pat had growth and dealt with real life relatable issues, which I really appreciated in this plot.

I would give this book four stars and suggest it to my friends and other readers.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Write From The Heart: Heather Hummel

Samantha decided it was time for a change in her life. As she was just dumped by her latest boyfriend in a string of failed relationships. She quits he day job and fully commits to her writing. She keeps working with her therapist to try and figure out what keeps going wrong in relationships. Just when she is almost ready to give up on love things start to fall into place in other parts of her life and possible love too. 

Warning: my review is a bit spoilery, but I don't give away big details. I love all the romance that is in this story though it isn't the main focus. Not just the romance that Samantha finds, in the traditional sense between two humans, but the romance she has with her work too. She is following her dream and fully commits to that and that comes across as a love story for me in this novel. Both then come out in a kind of a fairy tale/perfect ending, adding in my mind to the romantic elements of the plot. A romance like this being something we all would want, but doesn't always come out that way. But, I enjoyed it in thinking of it as a fairy tale almost.
A few other thoughts I had on the plot. I appreciated how drinking was handled through this plot. It was a social or celebratory thing here. Why I appreciate it is that I feel like so many books lately, my own writing included at times, use it as a crutch for characters and just have it around so much that it is nice to read about it being used more responsibly. Also, there was some inconsistencies in the minor characters and their back stories. It was almost like there was more back stories on a few of the characters that were edited out, but a few spots were missed. It could be the reason I noticed this and it stuck with me is I read almost the whole book while at the airport waiting for flights so it was all fresh in my mind. Overall, with the elements that I loved and the romance/fairy tale of it all I give this book 4 stars and encourage anyone who wants to journal more or write to put this on there TBR list.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Princess of Park Avenue: Daniella Brodsky

Lorraine Machuchi has a talent for hair dying, but works for uncle and though she challenges him, she doesn't challenge the quo. She still hangs out in the same places as she has since basically high school. With mostly the same people and is still waiting for Tommy the boy she has been on and off with for ears, who continues to play games with her. But, she tells herself that she is happy with her Brooklyn life.

After a day in Manhattan with opportunities opening up around her. She is training at a Park Avenue salon, has an apartment rent free with a dog to take care of, and the Princess of Park Avenue have adapted her into their group. Add a possible new Mr Right, that she is being thrown together with. And Tommy still playing his games Lorraine has some choices and decisions to make.

I personally found the start of this book a little slow. But, as I got farther into the plot and I guess a little more invested in the character of Lorraine then I didn't want to put the book down. The ebook version I did have had was peppered with some very distracting at times. At the end of the book, I am glad that I read the book and there were aspects that appealed to me. But, overall it was a little young for me, maybe if I had been in my early twenties still it might have appealed to me more. Also, I really hope that the ebook has some of the typos updated. So, you don't have to read sentences multiple times to make sure you got the meaning.

I would give it 2.5 stars, but am going to round up to 3. Read it is you find the summary interesting though and would love to hear more thoughts from others.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.