You Have a Match [Book Review]

January 11, 2021

You Have a Match by Emma Lord

Genre/Categories: YA Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Family Life

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Summary:

Thanks #NetGalley #StMartinsPress @StMartinsPress for a complimentary e ARC of #YouHaveAMatch for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Abby and her childhood friend, Leo (secret crush), sign up for a DNA service. For Abby, it’s a lark, but Leo is adopted and is curious about finding some bio relatives. A big surprise: Leo receives no matches but Abby finds out she has a full bio sister living within a couple of miles of her. Abby stalks the bio sister on Instagram,, and they make contact. They agree to meet at a summer camp and compare notes to try and figure out the secret that both sets of parents are keeping. Leo is also a cook at the camp, so this keeps life interesting for Abby in the romance department. Life becomes complicated as camp life, romance, secrets, siblings, friendships, and parents collide.

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Tomorrow Will Be Better [Book Review] #classics

December 11, 2020

Tomorrow Will Be Better by Betty Smith

Genre/Categories: Classic Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Vintage, Young Adult

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Summary:

Thanks #HarperPerennial @HarperPerennial for a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Written 70 years ago and set in Brooklyn 100 years ago, Tomorrow Will Be Better is a timeless, coming-of-age story of love and a young marriage, of poverty and hardship, of hope and second chances. Margy Shannon hopes optimistically for a better life than her parents. Weary of living a life of hardship with her quarreling parents, she dreams about landing a well paying job, finding a loving husband, and establishing her own home.

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New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow [Book Review]

December 4, 2020

New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow by Jessica Redland

Genre/Categories: Women’s Contemporary Fiction, Animal Rescue, Romance, Family Drama

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Summary:

Thank you #NetGalley #BoldWoodBooks @BoldWoodBooks for my complimentary copy of #NewArrivalsAtHedgehogHollow by Jessica Redland at my request. All opinions are my own.

New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow is book #2 in the Hedgehog Hollow series. It can be read as a stand-alone but will be a richer reading experience if you’ve read Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow first.

Samantha is the founder and owner of the Hedgehog Hollow Rescue Center. Although she has the support of her boyfriend, Josh, and her father, Samantha is overwhelmed with hedgehog arrivals, working full time, vandalism, and family issues. Samantha and Josh work hard at figuring it all out and growing their new relationship.

Image Source: Wikipedia

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Miss Benson’s Beetle [Book Review]

November 3, 2020

Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Quest

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Summary:

…equal parts entertainment and tragedy…

Thank you #NetGalley @RandomHouse for a complimentary e ARC of #MissBensonsBeetle at my request. All opinions are my own.

Rashly, Margery Benson decides to make a major change in her life. She walks out on her teaching job and decides to set out on an expedition to find a rare golden beetle that she remembers from her favorite childhood book. Miss Benson doesn’t have much money and she needs to find a traveling companion/assistant. As a result of the interview process, she finally hires Enid Pretty, a fun loving and vivacious person who wears a lot of pink, attention-getting clothing and impractical sandals. Even though Margery and Enid are complete opposites (foils), they compliment each other in unique ways. Their trip from England to New Caledonia is filled with adventure, obstacles, heartbreak, and peril. Will they find the golden beetle?

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She Come By It Natural [Book Review]

October 13, 2020

She Come By It Natural by Sarah Smarsh

Genre/Categories: Non Fiction, Biographical, Music, Feminism

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Summary:

Thanks #NetGalley @ScribnerBooks for a complimentary e ARC of #SheComeByItNatural at my request. All opinions are my own.

Sarah Smarsh uses examples from her grandmother and facts from a previously published Dolly Parton title to reflect on the message of Parton’s songs, how Parton’s music resonated with women of Smarsh’s grandmother’s generation, and Parton’s contribution to Feminism.

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Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter [Book Review]

September 15, 2020

Family in Six Tones by Lan Cao and Harlan Margaret Van Cao

Genre/Categories: Nonfiction, Memoir, Refugee, Vietnamese American, Vietnam War, Mother/Daughter

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Summary:

Thanks, #Netgalley #PenguinBooks @FSBassociates @AnnaSacca for a complimentary e ARC of #FamilyinSixTones for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Lan Cao escaped Viet Nam (and the Vietnam War) as a refugee when she was a child. The sacrificial love of her parents and the hopes they had for her future caused them to put her on a plane alone to travel to America to live with a distant relative. Leaving Viet Nam was traumatic and adjusting to a new family and culture added to the trauma, especially since she thought she was going on a brief vacation. Lan endures extreme culture shock (it’s especially sad that she can’t figure out how to open her milk carton at lunch), completes school, becomes a lawyer, marries, and has a child. Her daughter, Harlan, navigates two cultures and rails against her mom’s overprotectiveness. In this memoir, we hear both perspectives. As we understand that Lan’s fearfulness for her daughter is the result of her own childhood trauma, we also sympathize with Harlan and her need to fit into her American culture and be allowed some freedom. This is an “own voices” story of loss, trauma, a mother/daughter relationship, and the refugee experience.

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The Book of CarolSue [Book Review]

August 24, 2020

The Book of CarolSue by Lynne Hugo

Genre/Categories: Women’s Contemporary Fiction, Siblings

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Summary:

Thanks, #netgalley @kensingtonbooks for a complimentary e ARC of #TheBookofCarolSue All opinions in this review are entirely my own.

CarolSue and her sister, Louisa, are in their 60s and are both widows. After CarolSue loses her husband suddenly and unexpectedly, Louisa swoops in with a master plan for CarolSue to move back to the farm and live with her. The sisters are very different people: CarolSue loves her life in Atlanta playing bridge and getting pedicures while Louisa loves canning vegetables and feeding her chickens on the farm. CarolSue has difficulty speaking up for herself and lets her sister make all the arrangements. A cast of colorful characters, an abandoned baby, a troubled reverend, and a young, desperate immigrant provide the complications.

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The Amish Newcomer [Book Review]

August 20, 2020

The Amish Newcomer by Patrice Lewis

Genre/Categories: Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Amish/Mennonite, Family Life

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Summary:

Thanks #netgalley @harlequinbooks for a complimentary e ARC of #theamishnewcomer upon my request. All opinions in this review are my own.

Because of dire circumstances, an English city girl finds herself living in an Amish community with an Amish family. A former television reporter whose career is suddenly jeopardized when she inadvertently witnesses a murder, Leah is living in witness protection without a phone (and its access to 24 hour news) and adjusting to a different culture. Even though Leah is an outsider and is lonely for her friends, routines, and lifestyle, she is warmly welcomed in the Amish community. As she begins to adapt and feel useful, she also develops a friendship and fondness for an Amish bachelor, Isaac.

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The Switch [Book Review]

August 18, 2020

The Switch by Beth O’Leary

Genre/Categories: Women’s Contemporary Fiction, Romance

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Would you switch places with your grandmother?

Summary:

Grandmother Eileen and granddaughter Leena, both dissatisfied with their lives for different reasons, impulsively decide to swap places for two months. Seventy-nine-year-old Eileen moves into Leena’s London flat and twenty-something Leena escapes to her grandmother’s small home in a tiny rural Yorkshire village. They even switch phones! Eileen experiments with online dating and easily makes friends with Leena’s young flatmates. Leena tries to fulfill her grandmother’s responsibilities on various committees and attempts to gain credibility with the community.

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The Book of Lost Names [Book Review]

July 21, 2020

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, WW11, France

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Summary:

Inspired by true stories from WW11, a young Jewish woman who flees Paris with her mother after the arrest of her father finds herself committing to a forgery ring whose primary goal is to create documents that will help hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis. The story is told in dual timelines from the present-day perspective of Eva who is a semi-retired librarian living in Florida and the young Eva as she flees Paris and joins an underground forgery operation in a small mountain town near the Switzerland border. The Book of Lost Names becomes an important link between the two timelines.

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Would you switch places with your grandmother?

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