Marie August's Blog, page 6
January 25, 2015
Book Review: Eight Cousins (Eight Cousins #1) by Louisa May Alcott
Review of the audiobook version of this beloved children's classic narrated by Barbara CarusoEight Cousins (Eight Cousins #1) by Louisa May Alcott
Reading Level: Young Adult
Audible.com Release Date: January 15, 2013
Publisher: Recorded Books
Listening Length: 7 hours and 39 minutes
Source: Purchase
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry
After obtaining this version of Eight Cousins on Amazon, I followed the link to Audible listed on this product page and got an audiobook version as well at an extremely affordable price.
I am posting this audiobook review using the format that Audible recommends:
Overall: 5 stars
Performance: 5 stars
Story: 5 stars
Q. What made the experience of listening to Eight Cousins the most enjoyable?
A. It is well performed, and it is a book so beautifully written with such appealing content, it stands up very well to being read aloud--which lesser books do not.
Q. What did you like best about this story?
A. The ideas on health and healing, education, and women's role in society expressed by Dr. Alec Campbell are remarkably advanced. He would be very much at home in the company of holistic physicians of the modern world and is a perfect model of a "liberated," feminist male. He is extremely kind, generous, nurturing, and attentive to his sickly, heartbroken, 13-year-old, orphaned niece, Rose, the heroine of this novel.
For readers who enjoy stories rooted in family life, the Campbell clan offers a joyful vision of the many pleasures of being a treasured member of a close-knit, extended family.
Q. Which character - as performed by Barbara Caruso - was your favorite?
A. There were three favorites: Rose, the 13-year-old heroine; Aunt Plenty, Rose's sixty-something great-aunt, and Pokey, a four-year-old little girl. Ms. Caruso is outstanding with female voices of all ages. However, she does not attempt to do male voices authentically, other than to very slightly deepen and roughen her voice to indicate adult males. To be fair, though, in my personal experience, few female narrators do male voices outstandingly, a notable exception being the late Anna Fields (AKA Kate Fleming).
Q. Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
A. It made me both laugh and cry. Rose formed important one-on-one relationships with many different relatives and several friends, but the most significant and moving relationships were Rose and Uncle Alec, Rose and the 15-year-old family maid, Phoebe, and Rose and her 15-year-old cousin Mac. I loved the way Uncle Alec encouraged Rose's innate tendency to compassion, and she found frequent opportunities to express her generosity and kindness as she assisted and nurtured Phoebe and Mac.
Q. Any additional comments?
A. It was a huge pleasure to re-experience this book, which I so dearly loved in my childhood and shared with my own children, as an audiobook performance. Hearing it narrated by an excellent voice talent greatly enhanced what was already a long-time love affair with this book.
Overall: 5
Performance: 5
Story: 5
January 21, 2015
Book Review: Thunder & Roses (Fallen Angels #1) by Mary Jo Putney
Review of Audiobook narrated by Peter BishopThunder & Roses (Fallen Angels #1) by Mary Jo Putney
Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: October 4, 2011
Audible.com Release Date: October 15, 2013
Publisher: Mary Jo Putney, Inc.
Pages: 312 pages
Listening Length: 13 hours and 21 minutes
Source: Author
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry
I am posting this audiobook review using the format that Audible recommends:
Overall: 5 stars
Performance: 5 stars
Story: 5 stars
Q. If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
A. A Welsh Methodist minister's daughter confronts a bitter, half-gypsy earl, who cares nothing for the responsibility he owes to the ancient title he's inherited, and demands that he rescue the local villagers from poverty.
Q. Would you consider the audio edition of Thunder and Roses to be better than the print version?
A. It's an enthralling way to re-experience a classic book by a gifted author. For an audiobook to work well, the book itself must be outstandingly enough written to not just survive but prosper under the microscopic exposure of being read out loud at a quarter of the speed of silent reading to oneself. Thunder and Roses passes that test with flying colors. In addition, the narrator must be a good performer, able to convincingly portray every kind of character, from old to young, male or female, and often different nationalities. Peter Bishop is a terrific vocal performer who delivers fully on all these counts.
Q. Who was your favorite character and why?
A. Nicholas Davies, the half-Gypsy, "Demon" earl, is a wonderful hero. He's a classic, "dark and dangerous," wounded hero. The pairing of him with a Welsh village schoolteacher, the heroine, Clare Morgan, is absolutely wonderful. They are two very strong protagonists who are extremely well matched.
Q. What about Peter Bishop's performance did you like?
A. He has a rich, pleasing voice and, as I mentioned above, he does a great job portraying all types of character personalities.
Q. Any additional comments?
A. I am a long-time, avid fan of Mary Jo Putney, and I was delighted to find such an outstanding audio recording of this book, which is one of my favorite historical romance novels by this brilliant author.
Overall: 5
Performance: 5
Story: 5
Book Review: Dancing On the Wind (Fallen Angels #2) by Mary Jo Putney
Review of Audiobook narrated by William KirbyDancing On the Wind (Fallen Angels #2) by Mary Jo Putney
Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: November 29, 2013
Audible.com Release Date: August 13, 2014
Publisher: Mary Jo Putney, Inc.
Pages: 388 pages
Listening Length: 12 hours and 53 minutes
Source: Author
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry
I am posting this audiobook review using the format that Audible recommends:
Overall: 5 stars
Performance: 5 stars
Story: 5 stars
Q. What made the experience of listening to Dancing on the Wind the most enjoyable?
A. Excellent characters and story experienced as fine performance art.
Q. Who was your favorite character and why?
A. I enjoyed both Lucien, the hero, and Kit, the heroine. Lucien, the mysterious spymaster, and Kit of the many disguises, are both alienated survivors, negotiating a dangerous world of terrible enemies all on their own. I love it in a romance novel when equally strong protagonists such as these two, against all odds, find each other and work together against a common enemy.
Q. What does the narrator, William Kirby, bring to the story that you wouldn't experience if you just read the book?
A. For an audiobook to work well, it requires two things: First, the book must be outstandingly enough written to not just survive but prosper under the intense scrutiny of being read out loud at a quarter of the speed it would take a reader to read the book silently to herself. Dancing on the Wind is absolutely a novel of that sterling quality. Second, the narrator must be a good performer, able to convincingly portray every kind of character, from old to young, male or female, and often different nationalities. Mr. Kirby is a fine performer able to deliver these dramatic necessities really well.
Q. Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
A. This book offers sensual romance, action, adventure, pathos, and moments of humor. In short, it has it all.
Q. Any additional comments?
A. Fans of Mary Jo Putney will be pleased that this recording offers them the opportunity to enjoy Dancing on the Wind, one of the very best of her historical novels, in the form of an excellent audiobook.
Overall: 5
Performance: 5
Story: 5
January 15, 2015
Book Review: See Bride Run! by Charlotte Hughes
A fun romantic comedySee Bride Run! by Charlotte Hughes
Reading Level: Adult Romance
Release Date: December 21, 2014
Pages: 211 pages
Source: NetGalley
Reviewed By: Kate McMurry
As the daughter of a billionaire, 29-year-old Annie Hartford has been raised by her sexist father to be strictly ornamental. Her one contribution, as far as he's concerned, is to marry a man who can take over his financial empire when he retires. Unfortunately, Annie thinks the man her father has picked out is a cynical user, but her father doesn't care. He threatens Annie with a one-way ticket from riches to rags if she dumps her fiance. That's a hard choice to make, and Annie hesitates until minutes before walking down the aisle. Then she bolts in her father's limousine, barreling down the highway dressed in her wedding gown, veil and a diamond tiara, until the limo breaks down in the small town of Pinckney, Georgia.
Sam Ballard, a lawyer and owner of the Dixieland Cafe, is as amazed as the rest of the Pinckney population when Annie hits town. It soon becomes apparent to Sam that Annie is in dire straits, and he makes it possible for Annie to start a new life by employing her as a waitress in his cafe. Soon Annie is living in a garage apartment, wearing hand-me-down clothes, and using a loaner bicycle for transportation. It's a major culture shock, but there are some wonderful compensations as she makes friends in town, most especially with her handsome boss.
Both Annie and Sam have been burned by romance, and are leery of a new entanglement of the heart, but before very long, they find each other too hard to resist.
This is a lively, fun read, with two attractive, sympathetic romantic protagonists, and a host of quirky, small-town inhabitants to brighten up the story. If you enjoy romantic comedy, you will have a great time with this book.
I rate this story as follows:
Heroine: 4
Hero: 5
Subcharacters: 5
Romance Plot: 4
Setting: 5
Writing: 5
Overall: 5
January 14, 2015
Book Review: The Billionaire's Bridal Bargain (Bound by Gold) by Lynne Graham
An enjoyable marriage-of-convenience romance The Billionaire's Bridal Bargain (Bound by Gold) by Lynne Graham
Reading Level: Adult Romance Release Date: April 1, 2015 Publisher: Harlequin Presents Pages: 192 pages Source: NetGalley Reviewed By: Kate McMurry Lizzie Whitaker is the 24-year-old daughter of a Yorkshire tenant farmer. Her younger sister is studying at Oxford, something Lizzie would have liked to do as well, but she left school at 16 in order to help her father, who has Parkinson's disease. As her father has grown increasingly disabled over the years, Lizzie has taken on more and more of the grueling work of keeping the farm going, until at the present time, she is entirely responsible for its upkeep. It's a harsh, lonely life, and her only source of companionship and affection is her dog. Her angry, bitter father offers her nothing but criticism and complaints and, on top of all that, the farm is so deeply in debt, they are in danger of losing the tenancy and becoming homeless. In the recent past, she and her sister inherited from their mother an island called Lionos in the Aegean Sea, but it is of no help to their family, because they can't sell it.
Lionos belonged to Cesare Sabatino's grandmother Athene's family, the Zirondis, for generations, until it was sold to Geraldo Luccini in the 1930's. Athene is currently old and sick and longs to return to her birthplace, if only for a visit. Cesare would like to buy the island for her from the Whitaker sisters, and he can well afford it, because he is a billionaire. However, the only way his family can regain the island, according to the airtight, intergenerational terms of Geraldo Luccini's will, is through a marriage between a descendant of the Zirondi family (which Cesare is) and a descendant of the Luccini family (which Lizzie and her sister are). If Cesare marries Lizzie, his grandmother can visit Lionos, but only if Cesare and Lizzie have a child can he buy the island from her, which is worth millions.
Lizzie meets Cesare for the first time when he comes to her family's farm and makes her an offer she finds impossible to resist: marry this gorgeous guy, who is enormously successful for a man who is only in his early 30's, and never spend another backbreaking day on the farm again, when Cesare ensures that all her family's financial problems vanish forever. The two big issues holding Lizzie back are her moral qualms about having a child for financial gain, and the major hurdle to consummating the marriage that she is a virgin who believes she is frigid.
This romance plot is unusual for Lynne Graham in that there is no unplanned pregnancy pushing the hero to marry the heroine, which is a nice change of pace. Lizzie is a strong heroine, who is very loyal to her family, especially her younger sister. Cesare, interestingly, comes from a large, lovingly demonstrative family and his austere personality makes him something of a cuckoo in the family nest. I enjoyed Lizzie's relationship with her younger sister, and found it believable that she sacrificed for her family and opted for a marriage of convenience with Cesare.
This story does not have all the intensity of some of Ms. Graham's most outstanding novels, such as Bond of Hatred, Married to a Mistress, Vengeful Husband, and Prisoner of Passion, but it it a pleasant read, and it is rather a relief to encounter a Harlequin Presents in which the hero isn't incessantly harsh to the point of cruelty in his interactions with the heroine.
I rate this book:
Heroine: 4
Hero: 4
Romance Plot: 4
Writing: 4
January 13, 2015
Book Review: One of the Guys by Lisa Aldin
Cute, G-rated, tomboy dramedy One of the Guys by Lisa Aldin
Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: February 10, 2015 Pages: 320 pages Source: NetGalley Reviewed By: Kate McMurry At the start of this book, Tonya Valentine (Toni) is 17, it is the summer before her senior year, and she turns 18 midway through the book. Her father, whom she adored, died in a motorcycle accident two years ago. Her mother remarried a year ago. Toni loves her mother, but she resents her stepfather.
Toni has been close friends for 10 years, since they were in second grade, with three boys who are her age and live on her street. They initially formed a close circle of friendship when they spotted what they all agreed was the tail of a Loch Ness style monster in a local lake in their small hometown in Vermont. Over time, as a group they came up with the following nicknames for each other:
Toni is McRib because at one point she gorged on 10 of them in a single sitting. Micah, Toni's next-door neighbor, is Loch, because he is most interested in seeking out the local Loch Ness monster. Luke is nicknamed Ollie and Justin is Cowboy, for reasons I can't recall.
Even though the four friends have spent many hours together over the years shooting hoops, watching football, playing video games, and hanging out together at school, Toni is convinced that the chief thing holding them together is that they periodically go out on the lake in a hopeful quest to see the lake monster again. At the very beginning of the book, after yet one more failed attempt at a monster sighting, Toni is afraid that Cowboy and Ollie are losing interest in their ongoing quest. In a desperate attempt at renewing her bond with her guys, so that the gang doesn't drift apart, Toni suggests that the four of them moon their principal, who is just leaving the local movie theater with a date. Loch and Cowboy refuse, but Ollie is game. Unfortunately, though Toni and Ollie hide their faces during the prank, the principal figures out who they are and calls their parents. Ollie's parents are so angry, they refuse to fund a snowboarding trip he has been greatly looking forward to. He blames Toni entirely for his punishment and holds a huge grudge against her. Even worse, Toni's mother and her stepfather insist on sending her to an all-girl private school an hour's drive away for two reasons: to drastically reduce the time she spends with her gauche, male friends, and to force her to experience living as a girl, due to the female academy insisting that its students wear skirts and engage in "ladylike" behavior. These two disastrous consequences of Toni's prank are the dead-opposite of what she desired--instead of re-bonding her to her guy friends, it has driven them physically and emotionally farther away.
Toni has never had a female friend or participated in female culture before this new school, and she feels like she's on a foreign planet--until suddenly Toni finds herself comforting a weeping fellow student, and offering her advice on how to win back her boyfriend, which ends with Toni asking Loch to be her friend's pretend date to make her friend's ex jealous. This turns out to be the beginning of Toni's first female friendship, and the dawning of a brand new scheme by Toni to rope her guy friends back into her life. She decides to help them earn much needed money for Ollie's snowbarding and for college by working for Toni's G-rated escort service as fake dates for lovelorn, wealthy girls at Toni's female academy.
This young adult novel combines comedy and drama in a form that I personally would call "dramedy." The main focus of the story is a young-adult staple, "coming of age," and the secondary story is a classic romance plot, falling for the boy next door. I am very happy to report there is no romantic triangle.
The drama comes from Toni's poignant loss of her father and the emotional fallout from that. The comedy lies in slapstick situations surrounding Toni's gender-identity issues as a perpetual tomboy. Her version of being "one of the guys" is to emulate certain crude, immature behaviors of preteen and teenage, male culture, including competitive, loud belching, drooling while sleeping, dripping snot and wiping it on her pants or her sleeve, and scratching her behind in public. There is also frequent emphasis on the slovenliness of her bedroom and car and the fact that she loves wearing ugly, male athletic shorts and sloppy T-shirts as her primary attire.
In a YA market that is saturated with sex, drugs, violence, and suicidally depressed teens, among other dark subjects, it is a pleasure to run across, if not all-out comedy, at least a mix of comedy and drama, such as occurs in this novel. There is no swearing, and no sexual contact beyond kissing. There is one scene of drinking to excess at a wild party, but it is not glorified because most of the drunken teens get sick.
Overall, I would rate this book as G shading a bit toward PG due to the underage drinking.
Reviewer disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 4
Subcharacters: 4
Romantic Interest: 5
Coming of Age Plot: 5
Romance Subplot: 5
Writing: 5
Overall: 4.7, rounded to 5
January 12, 2015
Book Review: Black Orchid (Svatura Book 4) by Abigail Owen
Moving reunion romance and excellent final book in the paranormal Svatura series
Black Orchid (Svatura Book 4) by Abigail Owen
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: May 22, 2014
Pages: 224 pages
Source: Author
Reviewed By:Kate McMurry
If you have read the previous books in this excellent paranormal series--and it is essential that you do before reading this book--you already know there were two main relationships from previous books that had huge romantic conflicts remaining to be resolved, Adelaide and her husband and te'sorthene (soulmate) Nate, as well as Griffin and Selene, who are also each other's te'sorthene. This book very satisfactorily resolves both these two romances and the major storyline with the Big Bad of the series as a whole.
Within Black Orchid, there is everything one has come to expect from this talented author: plenty of action involving scary villains; strong, inspiring female leads who offer each other emotional and physical support as tremendous "sister-soldiers" and, best of all, well written romance. I particularly enjoy the fact that this author writes plenty of sexual chemistry while remaining G-rated, such that this series is suitable reading for all ages.
I rate this book as follows:
Main Heroine: 5
Main Hero: 5
Additional Viewpoint Characters: 5
Fantasy World-Building: 5
Romantic Plots: 5
Action Adventure-Plot: 5
Writing: 5
Overall: 5
September 17, 2014
Book Review: Played (Hooked #2) by Liz Fichera
Entertaining combination of coming-of-age and romance in this multicultural YA novelPlayed (Hooked #2)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 352 pages
Source: Vine
Reviewed By:Kate McMurry
***WARNING: This review contains spoilers for the first book in this series, Hooked. Do not read this review if you have not yet read Hooked.***
This is the sequel to the young-adult novel, Hooked
, by Liz Fichera. In the first book, the heroine is a Native American teenager, Fredericka "Fred" Oday, who lives on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona and is an extremely talented golfer. The hero is Ryan Berenger, a rich, handsome, and popular golfer who spends most of the book in fierce competition with Fred for ascendance on their high school's golf team. By the end of the book, they are in a committed romantic relationship.
In Played, the heroine is Riley Berenger, Ryan's younger sister, who has a hopeless crush on a popular boy at school, and Sam Tracy, a Native American teenager who has a hopeless crush on Fred Oday.
Sam is a big, quiet guy who keeps a low profile at school. The only teens he hangs out with at school are fellow Native Americans from the reservation until the night he goes on a school camping trip and unexpectedly saves Riley's life. Much to Sam's dismay, the pampered, white princess is determined to pay him back in a manner that is as morally questionable as it is irresistible: She promises to break up the relationship between her brother Ryan and Sam's heart's desire, Fred, so that Fred will then naturally (according to Riley) turn to Sam.
Though the premise of the novel sounds as if its inevitable execution would be as a classic, romantic comedy-of-errors, instead the tone is a combination of light drama with moments of dark drama toward the last quarter of the book. Personally, perhaps because I greatly enjoy comedy, I think the heroine would have been more sympathetic if the author had played this plot for laughs. However, fans of teen coming-of-age novels will empathize with Riley's struggles to find a consistent moral compass where her altruistic impulses to help one person (in this case Sam) do not require harming others to bring them about. Riley also learns the hard way to exercise better judgment in protecting herself from harm at the hands of her peers.
Though the publisher has chosen to market this book with emphasis on its romantic elements, and we do get the point of view of both the heroine and the hero, the relationship between Riley and Sam is not at all romantic through most of the book, because during a large part of the novel, they are interested in other people. That is not intended as a criticism, rather a description of the type of plot(s) this novel contains.
As in Hooked, in this sequel, the author did an excellent job weaving in fascinating scenes with Sam and his Native American friends and family, giving the reader a glimpse into life on the reservation. Those were the parts of the book I enjoyed most, and Sam is a particularly sympathetic hero.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 3
Hero: 5
Subcharacters: 5
Writing: 4
Coming-of-Age Plot: 3
Family Drama Plot: 4
Social Drama Plot: 4
Romantic Plot: 4
Overall: 4
May 20, 2014
Book Review: An Unlikely Match by Barbara Dunlop
An adorable, New Adult, contemporary, romantic comedy An Unlikely Match by Barbara Dunlop
Reading Level: New Adult Romance
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Pages: 165 pages
Source: Author Request
Reviewed By:Kate McMurry
A group of 70-something friends who live in a Florida retirement community are determined to help their grandchildren, grandnephews and grandnieces find their ideal mates by using a matchmaking computer program designed by their most brilliant co-conspirator, a former NASA scientist named Sam.
The first match that the program produces consists of 27-year-old Morgan Holbrook, the grandson of JW, a retired general, and 22-year-old Amelia Camden, the grandniece of Hannah, a bubbly, charming woman who has been a beauty all her life.
Amelia has just graduated from an Arizona university with a BA in fine arts and a C average. Rather than plodding away at her studies, Amelia focused on her extracurricular activities, participating in theater, cheerleading and an active social life. Her post-graduation plans are to move to LA and try out for parts as an actress while working as a cocktail waitress to support herself. Much like her Aunt Hannah, Amelia is beautiful, upbeat and fun to be with.
Morgan has a genius IQ. He attended Berkeley and earned a PhD in astrophysics, making him the proverbial "rocket scientist." In spite of being a "nerd," he is quite athletic, regularly engaging in mountain biking and martial arts, in which he has a black belt.
In order to get the two of them together, the coterie of senior matchmakers arrange to have Amelia and Morgan living, each rent free, in condos in the same building in Pasadena, California, and Sam uses his influence to get Morgan a job as an assistant professor at Caltech to anchor him in the same geographic location as Amelia.
In spite of the fact that these two, on the surface, are polar opposites, from the moment they meet, a strong, mutual attraction flares between them and continues to grow as they get to know each other, though neither of them suspects how the other feels.
This is the first book in a cute, romantic-comedy series. The author has written many bestselling Harlequin contemporary romances, but this series is self-published. I would personally classify "An Unlikely Match" as "New Adult" (NA), though the author does not seem to be marketing this series as such, because the protagonists are in their twenties and just starting out in life.
Looking at the book in that light, it is a terrific, and much needed, addition to that recently created subgenre of contemporary romance. NA has been flooded with angsty, college-based romantic dramas overflowing (ad nauseum) with bacchanalian booze parties, detailed, frantic sex scenes, and endlessly tattooed protagonists. I adore "geek" heroes, and Morgan is one of the best I've encountered in any romance novel, whether, YA, NA or adult. He's mature, responsible, and an outstanding example of a "metrosexual" male who is quite sexy without being alpha-dog domineering, as so many NA and adult, contemporary-romance heroes are.
This is a very funny book, with many laugh-out-loud moments, but it is also deeply emotional where it counts, in the progression of the growing love between Morgan and Amelia. I was really impressed with the way that both the hero and heroine, over the course of the novel, transcend their external, socially generated personas to discover that, deep inside, they have far more in common than they could ever have initially imagined. They both share some of the most important qualities that make for success in a committed, romantic relationship, including responsibility, emotional sensitivity, being good listeners who are truly interested in each other, and a willingness to help each other achieve their most important life goals.
This book is written in the point of view of both the hero and heroine, and initially in the point of view of Morgan's grandfather as we get a peek into the benevolent and humorous motivation behind the merry band of matchmakers who are the linking premise of this series. I am not always a fan of that kind of setup for a romance series, which has been done by Harlequin many times over the years. However, I found this particular, quirky set of seniors extremely likeable and a great deal of fun.
I highly recommend this book to fans of romantic comedy, and if you enjoy this book, you might also want to try another wonderful NA romantic comedy, Isn't She Lovely by Lauren Layne
.I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 5
Hero: 5
Subcharacters: 5
Romance Plot: 5
Writing: 5
Overall: 5
March 26, 2014
Book Review: Undone by Shannon Richard
Refreshing, down-home approach to New Adult romance Undone by Shannon Richard
Reading Level: New Adult Release Date: July 2, 2013 Publisher: Forever Pages: 416 pages Source: NetGalley Reviewed By:Kate McMurry Paige was born and raised in Philadelphia, but several years ago her parents retired to Mirabelle, a town of 5000 on the Gulf Coast in the Panhandle of Florida. Paige loves them, but she opted to stay behind where she had friends, a boyfriend, and a job. She'd roomed for seven years with her best friend, Abby, while completing an art degree and then moving into a job in the art department of an advertising agency. She'd been dating her boyfriend for over a year and assumed they would eventually marry. Then, suddenly, within a matter of months, Paige's world fell apart. First Abby moved to Washington, DC. Then Paige was laid off before she could get a roommate and could no longer afford her apartment. Worst of all, her boyfriend callously dumped her. With nothing of significance holding her in Philadelphia, Paige drove to Florida and moved in with her parents.
The culture shock between the big city and small-town life is initially almost too much for Paige to bear. In particular, multiple, vicious, female gossips are rude to her and spread false stories around town about Paige, insisting she is a promiscuous hippie who uses drugs, when in fact Paige merely has an artist's love for colorful clothing. Paige has difficulty finding a job, and she is about to give up on Mirabelle entirely when what starts out as yet another turn of terrible luck--her car breaking down--leads to what might be the best luck she's ever had. The man inside the tow truck who comes to rescue her is 28-year-old Brendan who, along with his grandfather, co-owns the only garage in the area, and just happens to be one of the best-looking and nicest guys Paige has ever encountered.
Paige is a sympathetic heroine whose "fish out of water" experiences form a large part of the story as she discovers two faces of the small, seaside town of Mirabelle: the judgmental, harsh gossips, and the kind, supportive friends she makes through her connection to Brendan.
Brendon is a very appealing hero who isn't just a handsome hunk: he's a great friend, a wonderful brother, son and grandson, and a man just waiting for the right woman to come along.
This New Adult (NA) novel with its protagonists in their late 20's is a refreshing change from so many of the college-based NA novels which are overflowing (ad nauseum) with bacchanalian frat parties, detailed, frantic sex scenes, and massively, obviously tattooed, alpha heroes. (Brendon does have one tattoo, but it is unobtrusively placed on one inner arm, and Paige's two tattoos are small, also well hidden, and of her own artistic design.)
In contrast, the style of this novel is very similar to contemporary romance novels written for the Harlequin American line, which have these characteristics: There is dual narrative of the heroine and hero. The main focus of the plot is the desire of the hero/heroine to be part of family and/or community. There is a strong sense of place within colorful, small-town life in the USA. (The author herself hales from the Panhandle of Florida, and she does an excellent job of portraying an authentic flavor of this setting.) The level of sensuality is low to moderate, and the warmhearted story contains both humor and light drama. In addition, as is the case with most all lines of Harlequin romance (even, I believe, the semi-erotic Blaze line), there is no coarse language within the sex scenes, though there is an occasional street curse from male characters.
This book has a gentle pace, exploring the courtship of Brendon and Paige across eight or nine months, and for most of the book, the conflict is mild, up until the climax, which has some tragedy and strong excitement. I haven't read a book like this in years, and it was an extremely refreshing, pleasurable experience.
This book is the first in a series set in Mirabelle, and it includes an excerpt from Book 2, Undeniable. This series is my favorite kind, in which the stories are linked by a shared setting and characters, rather than being an ongoing, melodramatic saga of the misadventures of the same romantic protagonists. The events of Book 2 occur six months after the end of Book 1 and encompass the romance between Brendon's younger sister, Grace, who is 24, and one of his two best friends, the town sheriff, Jax, who is 29.
Reviewer disclosure: I received a Kindle-format review copy of this book, at my own request, via NetGalley.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 5
Hero: 5
Subcharacters: 5
Writing: 5
Romance Plot: 5
Setting: 5
Overall: 5
