It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (29)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week I finally finished The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs.

Right now I'm reading So Much Closer, a young adult novel by Susane Colasanti.

These extra days off from school due to the earthquake and then the hurricane have helped me speed up my reading a bit, lol.

Series Sunday Review-The Winter Lodge

Series Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Literary Marie. I'm posting mine early since, due to Hurricane Irene, I possibly might not have any power tomorrow (hopefully I will. But all the schools will not have any so I won't have work on Monday. Wishful thinking, of course.)

The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The Winter Lodge is the second installment of the Lakeshore Chronicles, a series set in the small town of Avalon, New York. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series, Summer at Willow Lake which told of the romance between Olivia Bellamy and Connor Davis. This book focuses on Jenny Majesky, the illegitimate half-sister of Olivia.

Jenny is the owner of the town's bakery and has just suffered the loss of her beloved grandmother. Then one night her home ends up catching on fire and she is forced to spend a few days living with the chief of police, Rourke McKnight. Jenny and Rourke have long had feelings for each other. But Rourke had graciously stepped aside when his best friend Joey professes his love for Jenny and they become engaged. Rourke carefully keeps his heart guarded and never lets anyone get too close.

I enjoyed this story, although not nearly as much as Summer at Willow Lake. Jenny and Rourke aren't as interesting as Olivia and Connor. I did like finding out what had happened with Jenny's mother and why she had abandoned Jenny (and Olivia's father) all those years earlier. We also find out more about Daisy Bellamy, Olivia's teenage cousin, who has her own little crisis to deal with. I definitely recommend this follow-up to Willow Lake and I look forward to the next in the series.



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Source: Library
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge, 2011 Summer Romance Reading Challenge

Brief Blogging/Reviewing Break

I know there are a couple of authors that I had agreed to do reviews for, so I just wanted to post that for the next couple of weeks or so I'll be taking a brief blogging/reviewing break until the back to school rush dies down and I am actually able to do some reading again.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (28)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey,

I'm still reading The Winter Lodge. Between being in Atlanta this weekend (although I did do a lot of reading at the airport) and teachers officially starting back this week and students coming next week, I haven't been doing a lot of reading lately and probably won't be for the next couple of weeks :( The back to school rush has begun!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (27)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

Last week: I finished Something Borrowed and attempted If These Walls Could Talk, but abandoned it.

This week: I'm reading The Winter Lodge, the sequel to Summer at Willow Lake.

Sadly, my summer is almost coming to an end, next week is teachers' first day back at school, but I am going in all this week to start putting my new classroom in order. It is a mess! My nephew and I went in today (although he was no help) and stayed for about 5 hours. I got my cabinets cleaned out and organized, and I'm exhausted! So much more to do! Hopefully I'll be able to finish my book by this weekend when I go to Atlanta to visit my bestie!

Happy reading folks!

Review-If These Walls Could Talk (DNF)

If These Walls Could Talk by Bettye Griffin

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Couldn't finish it. Too many characters, none of whom were developed so I couldn't keep any of them straight. I got to page 66 before I got bored with all the house hunting and no advancement to the plot.



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Review-Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

This was a really good book, although very predictable. Everything that you think will happen, does, but the book still kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering if it would deviate from the predictable path (it never does.)

I really liked the character of Rachel and I could identify with her in a lot of ways. Not in the having-an-affair-with-your-best-friend's-fiance way, but because I know what it's like to be 30 and still single and feeling as though you will live the rest of your life alone. I could identify with feeling as though you are always in competition with your friends. And once she and Dex began the affair, I could understand her pain and frustration of not knowing if he shared the same feelings as her.

We are clearly supposed to dislike Darcy, which I do. Just when you are wondering why Rachel even bothers being friends with her, there is the scene with their sleepover after Darcy's bridal shower, which I thought was really cute and allowed me to like Darcy a little bit, up until the end when she messed that up again. I do like Emily Giffin's writing style and I am curious to see what happens with Rachel and Dex's relationship and Rachel and Darcy's friendship, so I do plan on reading Something Blue, the sequel to this one, even though it is from Darcy's point of view.



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Source: purchased from B&N onto Strawberry
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, E-Book Challenge

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (26)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Journey.

I almost forgot to post this today as I forgot it was Monday since I'm spending the week in the lovely, sunny Myrtle Beach, South Carolina! It's amazing, I could just stay here forever!

Last week I finished reading Fantasy in Death by JD Robb and Dr. Feelgood by Marissa Monteilh.

This week my beach read is Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin. I've been wanting to read this since I saw the trailer for the movie. I heard that the movie was awful and I'll wait until it's on cable to see it, but the book so far is pretty good.

Have a great week peeps!