Review-'Twas the Spy Before Christmas

'Twas the Spy Before Christmas by Connie Keenan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a cute little holiday novella. I really enjoyed the characters of Dan and Beth and their growing romance. I actually wouldn't have minded if it had been a full-blown novel, just to see how their relationship progresses.



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Source: Freebie from B&N (still free!)
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Show Me the Free, E-Book Challenge, Contemporary Romance Challenge

Challenge Complete: 2011 Summer Romance Reading Challenge

I completed BookChickCity's 2011 Summer Romance Reading Challenge on September 27, 2011. Here are the romances I read:

1. Harvest Moon-Rochelle Alers
2. Summer at Willow Lake-Susan Wiggs
3. Fools Rush In-Janice Thompson
4. The Winter Lodge-Susan Wiggs
5. The Wolf Prince-Karen Kelley
6. Last Night's Kiss-Shirley Hailstock
7. Seduced on the Red Carpet-Ann Christopher
8. Queen of His Heart-Adrianne Byrd

Favorite book: Summer at Willow Lake and Seduced on the Red Carpet
Least favorite book: The Wolf Prince

Series Sunday Review (5)-In Between Lies

Series Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Literary Marie. Here is my Series Sunday pick:

In Between Lies by Shawna Hill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In this story, we have Savannah, a successful career woman who has been hurt by love before. She cautiously enters into a relationship with Kevin, a handsome weather reporter from the local news. Kevin seems like the perfect guy, but of course he's hiding a secret: namely his ex, a crazy, stalkerish woman named Naomi. Even though Kevin is happy with Savannah, he can't resist slipping back into Naomi's bed.

This was a typical crazy-woman-stalks-man-and-his-new-woman story, but there were a few twists and turns along the way. It started off a bit slow and it took me awhile to warm up to the characters of Savannah and Kevin, (also there were quite a few grammatical errors that made the teacher in me cringe) but the story line did keep me on the edge of my seat and wanting to find out just what would happen next. I enjoyed the cliffhanger ending and I look forward to reading the next installment in this series, to see what crazy Naomi will do next.



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Source: downloaded
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Contemporary Romance Challenge, E-Book Challenge, Show Me the Free Challenge

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

Series Sunday Review (3): Fools Rush In

Series Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by Literary Marie of Precision Reviews.

Fools Rush In by Janice Thompson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ever wonder how Italian sounds with a Southern drawl?
Bella Rossi's life is just starting to get interesting. When her Italian-turned-Texan parents hand over the family wedding-planning business, Bella quickly books a Boot-Scootin' wedding that would make any Texan proud. There's only one catch--she doesn't know a thing about country music. Where will she find a deejay on such short notice who knows his Alan Jackson from his George Strait? And will Bella ever get to plan her own wedding?

Fun, fresh, and full of surprises, this flavorful combination of Italian and Tex-Mex highlights the hilarity that ensues when cultures clash.

This was a really cute story. Bella and her crazy Italian family kind of reminded me of Stephanie Plum and her crazy family, only without the bounty hunting, pot roast, and sexy Officer Morelli. Instead Bella has wedding planning, lasagna, and her sexy cowboy DJ.

Bella has just been placed in charge of the family's wedding planning business and she's a nervous wreck that she will screw up. She has to hire a deejay who loves country music for her first country western themed wedding and a mix up leads her right into the arms of DJ: Dwayne Neeley, Jr. As Bella and DJ grow closer, we're introduced to all the wacky hi-jinx that happen when their two families get together.

I really enjoyed the character of Bella, although she was a bit too much of a worrywart. I thought she and DJ were really cute together, however I thought their relationship moved a little too fast in the beginning and that they really didn't get to know each other a whole lot. I thought this would be solely a romance novel and focus mainly on their relationship, but it was more Christian-fiction and focused mostly on Bella's family, with her and DJ's relationship as a nice little side plot. I did enjoy the Christian element to the story and it did give me a lot to reflect on as well.

There are two more book in this series and I look forward to reading them.



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Source: freebie for the Nook from B&N, you can snag it here.
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Contemporary Romance Challenge, Summer Romance Reading Challenge, Show Me the Free E-Reader Challenge, 2011 E-Reader Challenge

Review-Summer at WIllow Lake

Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Real estate expert Olivia Bellamy reluctantly trades a trendy Manhattan summer for her family's old resort camp in the Catskills, where her primary task will be renovating the bungalow colony for her grandparents, who want one last summer together filled with fun, friends and family. A posh resort in its heyday, the camp is now in disarray and Olivia is forced to hire contractor Connor Davis—a still-smoldering flame from her own summers at camp. But as the days grow warm, not even the inviting blue waters of Willow Lake can cool the passions flaring or keep shocking secrets at bay. The nostalgic joy of summers past breathes new promise into a special place and people…a promise meant to last long after the season ends.

I downloaded this freebie awhile ago and am just now getting around to reading it. I thoroughly enjoyed it! The main character, Olivia, travels back to her family's old camp resort to renovate it for her grandparent's wedding anniversary. Olivia spent many summers there as a child and teen, and while there, she met and fell in love with Conner Davis, her first love who ends up breaking her heart.

Olivia heads back to Camp Kioga with 3 failed engagements under her belt, and she's not looking for any type of romance. But who ends up being the only contractor in town who can help work on the camp renovations? Conner Davis. As they get reacquainted with each other, the chapters flashback to when they were teens at the camp, and what drew them to each other, caused them to fall in love, and what forced them apart. I generally don't like stories that use a whole lot of flashbacks (like in Sweet Valley Confidential...yuck) but I didn't mind it at all in this instance, because we got a lot more insight into Olivia and Conner.

Also, there are two sub-plots, one involving Olivia finding out a shocking revelation about her father, and the second involving Olivia's younger cousin Daisy whose parents are going through a divorce that reminds Olivia of her own parents' divorce years ago, and Julian, Conner's rebellious half-brother who is sent to spend the summer at the camp with him. Again, I generally dislike sub-plots in romance novels, because they usually involve people I don't care about, and they take away focus from the main characters. But I really enjoyed reading the back story on Olivia's father, and the budding friendship between Daisy and Julian. Apparently Susan Wiggs has a whole series of these books, focusing on the people from Camp Kioga, and I look forward to reading them all.



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Source: Freebie from B&N
Challenges: 100 Books in a Year, Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge, 2011 Summer Romance Challenge, Show Me the Free E-book Challenge, 2011 E-Book Challenge

2011 Summer Romance Challenge

Book Chick City is hosting the 2011 Summer Romance Challenge. I figured I would sign up since I haven't really read any contemp romances yet this year (despite entering another Contemporary Reading Challenge at the beginning of the year), so this is another reason for me to get cracking on that. Here are the rules:


Timeline: 1st June 2011 ~ 30th Sept 2011. Only books started on June 1st count towards this challenge.

Details:

1. Anyone can join. You don't need a blog to participate.

2. 4 months, 8 books - that's doable, right? Or if you want to push yourself further, double it to 16!!

3. Any book format counts except audiobooks.

5. The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

I'm going to try and read 8 books and will track my progress here.

1. Harvest Moon-Rochelle Alers
2. Summer at Willow Lake-Susan Wiggs
3. Fools Rush In-Janice Thompson
4. The Winter Lodge-Susan Wiggs
5. The Wolf Prince-Karen Kelley
6. Last Night's Kiss-Shirley Hailstock
7. Seduced on the Red Carpet-Ann Christopher
8. Queen of His Heart-Adrianne Byrd

Completed on September 27, 2011

Irresistible Forces-Brenda Jackson

Irresistible Forces by Brenda Jackson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Good book, very sexy. Very predictable.



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Contemporary Romance Challenge

And yet another one!



RomanceBookMaven is hosting the Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge 2011.

The goal: Read at least 10 contemporaries between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011.

Sounds easy enough.

1. Harvest Moon-Rochelle Alers (June 25, 2011)
2. Summer at Willow Lake-Susan Wiggs (July 16, 2011)
3. Fools Rush In-Janice Thompson (July 24, 2011)
4. The Winter Lodge-Susan Wiggs
5. Last Night's Kiss-Shirley Hailstock
6. Seduced on the Red Carpet-Ann Christopher
7. Queen of His Heart-Adrianne Byrd
8. In Between Lies-Shawna Hill