Empi Baryeh's Blog, page 28

Color of Love Blog Hop 2017 – @EmpiBaryeh @KiruTaye @NanaPrah #CoLHop2017 #coloroflovehop

It is on, people! I'm talking about the 2017 edition of the COLOR OF LOVE Blog Hop co-hosted by Empi Baryeh (me), Kiru Taye, Nana Prah, and Love Bites and Silk.This year's hop is on from today 23 November to 3 December, 2017. 
As always, we're celebrating People of Color in romance and offering you a chance to discover new books and new authors, as well as giving you a chance to win prizes.We have 30 blogs participating this year, each featuring an interracial or multicultural romance book! 

This year, we're doing things a little differently. We've separated the cash and book prizes so more people can win:

BOOK PRIZES
First of all, we’re introducing daily book prizes. Be sure to comment on blog posts and join the conversation on our  FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE  for a chance to win one of our 24 book prizes.

CASH PRIZES
· 1st prize $50 GC
· 2nd prize $25 GC
· 3rd prize $15 GC
· 4th prize $10 GC
HOW TO WIN:MY  BLOG PRIZEI am giving away one $5 Amazon gift card, but you have to leave me a comment about why you love reading about people of color in romance novels to earn a spot in my lucky draw (remember, if you comment, you will automatically be entered into the draw for today’s book prize)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are the books in our grand prize hampers Now hop on to the next blog! ');

Prah, Constantine and Baryeh Reviews: The Bookshop on Autumn lane by Cynthia Tennent

Hi everyone! It's PC&B time again (hmmm...still working on it, guys). We read The Bookshop on Autumn lane by Cynthia Tennent, and as usual you get 3 reviews for the same book (links to the other reviews at the bottom).
THE BLURB
While some young women would jump through hoops to claim ownership of a bookshop, free-spirited Gertrude “Trudy” Brown wants nothing to do with the rundown store her late Aunt Gertrude left her.  Having suffered from dyslexia all her life, books aren’t exactly her friends. With not much more than a collie dog who’s scared of his own shadow, and a rusty but trusty ’74 Beetle, Trudy arrives in the tiny town of Truhart, determined to sell off her cumbersome inheritance as quickly as possible… 
 
But Trudy is not the only stranger in town. Christopher “Kit” Darlington, a professor of American Studies at Cambridge, is searching for an elusive manuscript—and he secretly thinks Trudy’s ramshackle bookshop might hold the key to its discovery. As these two opposites spend the autumn days together, cleaning out Trudy’s bookshop, they soon find that uncovering both literature and love can be equally mysterious… 
 
 Trudy’s never been  the type to stay in one spot too long, but something about Kit makes her consider starting a new chapter—and maybe even finding there’s a happily-ever-after…


The blurb had promise. I liked the idea of a dyslexic woman inheriting a bookshop; throw in an academic whose work needs books and you have an interested (potential) reader. The other thing that drew me tot he story was the small town setting. 

The story started off with at an interesting scene where Trudy arrives in Truhart, but the first about a third of the story was rather slow for me and I found myself struggling to connect with the heroine. Perhaps that's the author's plan, because she still got me engaged in the characters. The story really picks up about halfway through and this momentum continues through to the end.

Trudy is a drifter who has inherited a bookshop from an Aunty who was never supportive. For a girl who can't read, and therefore hates books, this is like a joke. All she wants is trash the books, sell the bookshop and get out of Truhart. However, life has other plans for her. Handsome English professor, Kit Darlington, shows up with his Englishman charm and convinces her to take her time - and maybe make some money out of the books while she's at it. The decision to wait a few days turns into a journey of self-discovery for Trudy as learns to appreciate who she is. She also learns a few things about love and responsibility, while challenging Kit to be true to himself and everyone else. The story is told from Trudy's POV, which allows the reader to get to know her thoughts and motivations, and discover the amazing person underneath the rough exterior. The book also enlightened me about dyslexia and got me curious to learning more than the basic stuff I know about the condition.

Don't forget to check out reviews from Nana Prah and Cathrina Constantine

Playing With Words: Everyday vs Every Day #GrammarTips

Hi folks!Some of you might remember I used to do a Wednesday Weekly post called "Word Wednesday".  I have decided to resume those posts, but I'm now calling it Playing With Words, which I think opens up the possibilities. I may be wrong - time will tell. So for my inaugural "Playing with words" post, I chose to look at "everyday" vs "ever day". If you're like me, then your default position is it's one word. Apparently not! 
Here's the 411
EVERYDAY
The word everyday describes things that are commonplace or ordinary; of or relating to every day; daily. Everyday answers the question what kind? e.g.:
an everyday occurrence.everyday clothes.a placid, everyday scene.
EVERY DAY
Every day answers the question when? e.g.He walks every day.For more information, check out this article from Dictionary(dot)com.

Empi

2017 Color of Love Blog Hop sign-up #CoLHop2017 #coloroflovehop @empibaryeh @kirutaye @nanaprah

Happy month of November!
Do you know about the Color of Love Blog Hop? It's the annual event where we celebrate colour and diversity in romance. This year's event is from 23 November – 3 December, 2017.


Here's what can do to take part in the event:
SIGN UP at our event page (or go directly to the linky link page). If you're running a blog giveaway, indicate if your giveaway will be country specific (e.g. US or UK only) or international (INT) when you sign up. DONATE toward our grand prizes, please COMPLETE THIS FORM.

This is what you get for donating:
· Donate $5 and have one social media entry included in the rafflecopter options.
· Donate $10 and have two social media entries included in the rafflecopter options.
· Donate an eBook and have your book cover featured on the Love Bites and Silk side bar throughout the event.

JOIN US on our FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE.Note that since this event is about celebrating interracial and multicultural romance novels, all books donated and featured need to feature at least one main character who is a person of color.
Permission to share and promote is granted and encouraged.


Empi
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Prah, Constantine and Baryeh Reviews: The Afterlife Coach by Susan E. Paul

It's October, and we probably should have chosen a Halloween themed book so readers could adjust their TBR list, but we chose a paranormal story, which I think works for the season: The Aferlife Coach by Susan E. Paul.

Here's the blurb:
Imagine waking up to find Napoleon Bonaparte, Janis Joplin and Count Dracula in your kitchen eating Froot Loops. For Claire Anderson, this crosses the line. To make matters worse, they’re on the lam and can’t be returned to sender until In Between, the afterlife way station, can arrange transportation to pick them up. In the meantime, Claire tries to contain this motley crew, hoping to stave off an international incident. How do they manage to walk among us? Will Claire succeed in repatriating them? And at what cost? The Afterlife Coach is a humorous tale of second chances, self-awareness and, for those among us who make bad choices, demonstrates just how hard it is to die happily ever after.

The first thing that caught my attention was author's writing style, which weaves in a sense of humour I discovered I liked. With the story written in first person (usually not my favourite), the humour adds to the protagonist's persona and brings a definite realness to her.

The premise of the story is very interesting - a person who not only sees the dead but has the task of helping them make amends and find peace. THe protragonist, Claire Anderson, has recently lost her husband and is in that place of simple existence.
The very nature of the plot made it a necessity for the characters to grow over the course of the story and Ms Paul does it effortlessly. In the process of helping the dead find their rightful places in the after-life, Claire unwittingly embarks on a journey of self re-discover and finds her own purpose again.

The Afterlife Coach is an easy read, which gives more than a few laughs along the way. Ms Paul gives us likeable characters that we come to care about as the story progresses; and is able to address all my questions and wishes, leaving no loose ends.

Don't forget to hop over to see reviews by Nana Prah and Cathrina Constantine.

Prah, Constantine and Baryeh Reviews: Deliver Me (The Holmes Brothers Book 1) Farrah Rochon

It's already another month, and you're in for another 3-for-1 review treat. We went traditional and selected Deliver Me by Farrah Rochon. As  you may guessed from the title (although not so obvious), there is some medical angle to the story.

Here's the blurb:
After being dumped by her boyfriend and passed over for yet another promotion, Monica Gardner moves to New Orleans, determined to make a name for herself as the new attending ER physician at Methodist Memorial Hospital. As for men--she's through with them. But when given the chance to chair the hospital's annual charity banquet, Monica must elicit the help of gorgeous Ob-gyn Elijah Holmes.

Eli will do anything to thwart his matchmaking Mama's plan to reunite him with his high school girlfriend. So, when the sexy new ER doc asks for his help in planning this year's charity banquet, Eli devises the perfect scheme: He'll help put on the best banquet the hospital has ever seen, if Monica poses as his new girlfriend. But when Eli finds himself falling in love, he realizes convincing Monica of his true feelings may be his greatest delivery yet.
My reviewDeliver Me introduces us to Dr Monica Gardner,a new ER doctor at the Methodist Memorial Hospital, and Dr Elijah Holmes, the star doctor of the same establishment. So the romance premise is the classic pretend-boyfriend/girlfriend theme, which can be tricky because it's so popular. In the interest of not giving away spoilers, I'll just say Ms Rochon handled this aspect of the story well.

I liked Monica; she's a strong woman who knows what she wants and takes steps to get it. I think Ms Rochon satisfactorily deals with Monica's backstory to explain her goals and motivation. I liked the fact that she wasn't one of those heroines who spend half the book denying their attraction to the hero.

Elijah is a man-whore and he makes no apology for that. He would have been unlikable if the author hadn't given us a glimpse into his family life and a bit of background. The scene where they meet for the first time doesn't exactly put him is a flattering light.

However, as the story progresses, I came to like Elijah. I liked how fast he fell for Monica and the fact that he didn't go about denying it. There were several scenes that made me go "aaaawwww". And in the end, he comes through for Monica big time. So in this regard the book is definitely more than just a pretty cover.

I enjoyed the book enough to check out the blurbs for the rest of the stories in the series, but I had three major issues with this book.

Let's start with the least.

1) I would have liked to see some more interaction between Monica and her brother and/or some amount of reconciliation with her family. But of course, life isn't perfect so I wasn't too bothered with this.

2) Elijah's crazy ex whose scenes gave so much promise for major drama, just didn't deliver. The author takes pains to set up a scene that ends with Elijah rattled and frankly a little worried about his safety, and then nothing. The latter scene in which the ex confronts Monica is not huge enough as precursor to the black moment. I found that a bit disappointing.

3) This is the big one. There was too much focus on two secondary characters - a married couple whose only link is that one is Elijah's patient. IMO they didn't have any bearing on Monica and Elijah's romance at all - I mean AT ALL. I felt removed from the story whenever I got to a scene in these two characters' POV. Ms Rochon addresses an important issue with this couple, but the story had no place in "Deliver Me". The author could have added that bit as a supplementary story at the end of the book or a free Holmes Brothers spin-off novella.


Disclaimer: I got my copy of the book from Amazon




Don't forget to hop over to see Prah and Constatine's reviews.

Prah, Constantine and Baryeh Reviews: The Librarian by Christy Sloat #timetravel

I had a what's this day moment, which is why this post didn't go up yesterday with Prah and Constantine's reviews (remember to check those out, if you haven't already).

So our book of choice was The Librarian by Christy Sloat.

Here's the blurb
He’s from 1892 England, she’s in a small library in 2017. And that's just the start of their troubles.

Emme never meant to stay in Maine. She'd come only to find a librarian for her Gram's library, a custodian for the collection of mysterious books she'd promised to protect. On a dark, wintery night, alone in the library, she takes her first glance into one of the antique novels and finds herself transported to 1892 England staring into the eyes of handsome and dashing hero Jack Ridgewell. As each chapter passes she learns you can truly fall in love with a character in a book, that book boyfriends are real and Emme must choose between the real world, and his.

When the last page is read he's gone and Emme feels the cold loneliness of lost love. Will she find Jack again, or will their love be forever lost? The answer lies within the pages…

Emme Bailey has recently inherited a library and for some reason, she is part of a bloodline of librarian who are tasked with preserving history and gifted with the ability to time travel through some special books.Jack Ridgewell is a young man about to embark on a trip that will change the entire course of his life. They meet and fall in love, but the little problem of living 125 years apart complicates matters. Regardless of this, the two continue to pine for each other and look forward to the stolen moments they can get when Emme opens her magical book. 
Emme is not your usual heroine who's either aggressively seeking to marry or has sworn off men due to a past experience. She's simply a girl who enjoys life and keeps things simple. I found that refreshingly different, and her this made it believable that she'd fall for the first interesting guy she meets. Jack Rigdewell is an old-fashioned gentleman, who at twenty in 1892 hasn't really seen enough of the world to be insulated from the attractions of a mysterious woman who by the standards of his time is quite risque.
Emme and Jack could have used a little more page time IMO, to enable the reader fully enjoy their romance. However, the ending kind of makes up for this (no spoilers). I also wished the author had given a better explanation for the purpose of the librarians and why Emme and her ancestors are able to time travel. This wasn't satisfactorily dealt with for me. 
Although, I enjoyed the read and found myself always looking forward to returning to its pages. I hope the author would consider writing a sequel and dealing with the issues above. 
Disclaimer: I bought my copy of the book from Amazon.

Prah, Constantine and Baryeh Reviews: Snow White Red-Handed by Maia Chance

We're still loving on historicals, so we selected Snow White Red-Handed (A Fairy Tale Fatal Mystery Book 1) by Maia Chance.


Here's the blurb:
Miss Ophelia Flax is a Victorian actress who knows all about making quick changes and even quicker exits. But to solve a fairy-tale crime in the haunted Black Forest, she’ll need more than a bit of charm…
1867: After being fired from her latest variety hall engagement, Ophelia acts her way into a lady’s maid position for a crass American millionaire. But when her new job whisks her off to a foreboding castle straight out of a Grimm tale, she begins to wonder if her fast-talking ways might have been too hasty. The vast grounds contain the suspected remains of Snow White’s cottage, along with a disturbing dwarf skeleton. And when her millionaire boss turns up dead—poisoned by an apple—the fantastic setting turns into a once upon a crime scene.

To keep from rising to the top of the suspect list, Ophelia fights through a bramble of elegant lies, sinister folklore, and priceless treasure, with only a dashing but mysterious scholar as her ally. And as the clock ticks towards midnight, she’ll have to break a cunning killer’s spell before her own time runs out… My Review I haven't commented on covers in a little while, but look at that cover! But let's not judge a book by its cover alone. The author immerses us into the story at an attention grabbing point where our protagonist, Miss Ophelia Flax, acts her way (so to speak) into a job as a lady's maid in a scene that captures the societal disparities of 19th century Europe.

Ophelia is a strong character. Her profession as an actress comes in very handy to enable her charm her way in and out of trouble. The lengths to which she's willing to go to save her colleague show how loyal she is. These endeared me to her. I must confess, I took a peek at the blurbs of books 2 and 3 in the course of my read and discovered that Ophelia Flax is also the main character in those, which told me there probably wouldn't be as much romance as I would have hoped for. However, the mystery and the twists more than make up for it.

I enjoyed the array of characters and places, and the premise that fairytales could have stemmed from true events. Much to my frustration, I couldn't guess who the killer was until the moment where anyone else would have guessed it.

Ms Chance's writing is crisp with bits of humour thrown in here and there to make the book a delightful journey from beginning to end. I definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a new angle to a classic story.

Don't forget to hop over to see what Prah and Constantine thought of the story!

Disclaimer: I bought my copy of Snow White Red-Handed from Amazon.

Review: Rumpeled: a Cindermama Story (Cindermama Series) by Ines Johnson

The Blurb
In this new spin on an old fairytale, Guy Rumpel’s golden touch could put a wrinkle in Midori Miller’s designs.

Former model, Midori Miller, left the fashion world in disgrace and now lives quietly as a small town dressmaker and single mom. When her talented daughter catches the ear of a New York record producer, the last thing Midori wants is to return to the harsh glare of the spotlight. Caught between the producer’s charms, her daughter’s dreams, and her own new chance at success, Midori isn’t sure she can design the right path for herself or her family, especially when the producer makes a play for her heart.

After a string of flops, producer Guy Rumpel believes he’s lost his golden touch. He needs to turn his career around with a hit record, and the young songbird from his hometown just may be the key. But when his family’s gift for finding their one true love shines its light on Midori, he’ll have to convince her to make the deal of a lifetime.

Rumpeled is the second book in Ines Johnson’s bestselling Cindermama series. If you love contemporary romance with a touch of magic then this series is for you. Buy Rumpeled: a Cindermama Story and bring this modern fairytale into your world today!

Rumpeled is book 2 in Ines Johnson's Cindermama series, which is the story of Guy Rumpel, a music producer with a golden touch, who sees musical talent beyond what other eyes can see. However, his third eye seems to be failing him recently. It all changes when he finds an "under-dressed" Midori Miller in his hotel room. This chance encounter rekindles not only his 'sight' but his libido! 

But Midori runs and they both think that's the end of it. However, a family reunion leads to another chance--no, fated--encounter. Guy hears Midori's daughter sing, and knows she has true talent, but convincing Midori isn't a walk in the park. 

As a single mother who's been hurt by life and love, Midori is determined to protect her heart and shield her daughter from the world. Her safe existence is threatened when Guy becomes interested in representing her daughter professionally and seeing Midori privately ;-)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Guy and Midori - both cautious, for their own reasons, about taking a chance at love/relationship. Ines Johnson makes a daring move by giving her hero a weakness most authors wouldn't approach with a ten-foot pole, but she does it, and it makes her hero so darn likable!

I'm already moving book 3 up my TBR pile.

I bought my copy of Rumpeled from Amazon.

See my review of book 1 in the series, Pumpkin.

Color of Love Blog Hop 2014 ��� @EmpiBaryeh @KiruTaye��@NanaPrah

It’s time once again for the COLOR OF LOVE Blog Hop! Hosted this year by Love Bites and Silk��in conjunction with Empi Baryeh (me), Kiru Taye, and Nana Prah, from today until Monday (4th –��8th December)��we are celebrating romance in … Continue reading →