#MMBBR #FRC2017 #Reviews #FirstLine @BookSparks @AnneLParrish #ChristineEvelynVolker @JaxMiddleton

This multi-generational novel presents three women whose paths cross at the Lindell Retirement Home. Constance Maynard, fierce, intependent and proud, reflects on her long life promoting women's rights through her career as a professor of history. Eunice Fitch, the perfect caregiver, is often unlucky in love, yet even in middle age refuses to give up searching for the perfect man. Sam Clark is a young aide with a passion for poetry and , small beautiful things, but at war with her own large, ungainly physique. All together they weave a tapestry as rich and complex as the female experience itself.

MY REVIEW:  

#FirstLine ~ The Lindell Retirement Home was lovely.  

This book is so rich in characters that you will immediately be sucked in. In a setting that builds upon the characters and their unlikely connection, Parrish writes a story that every woman will be able to relate to. You will be moved by this story and it will stay with you long after you are fished with this book.

Your flight is now boarding! Join Alex Sinclair for a life-changing trans-Atlantic journey. London Belongs to Me is a coming-of-age story about friendship, following your dreams, and learning when to let go… and when to hang on.

A New City. A New Start. Same Old Demons…

Meet Alex, a recent college graduate from Tallahassee, Florida in love with London, pop culture, and comic cons. It’s not easy being twenty-one-years-old, and Alex has never been the most popular girl. She’s an outsider, a geeky fangirl … with dreams of becoming a playwright in a city she’s loved from afar, but never visited.

Fleeing America after a devastating betrayal, she believes London is where she’ll be understood, where she belongs. But Alex’s past of panic attacks and broken relationships is hard to escape. When her demons team up with a jealous rival determined to destroy her new British life, Alex begins to question everything: her life-long dream, her new friends, and whether London is where she truly belongs.

MY REVIEW:

#FirstLine~ Mark would never forgive her.

London Belongs to Me is the first book in this series. London, Can You Wait? can be read as a standalone, but for a deeper understanding of the characters, setting and plot you may want to read the first book in this series first.  With that being said, I loved both of these books. They are such fun to read and have deep characters that you can relate to. You will laugh, may cry, and will be delighted from cover to cover.

Struggling to forget a crumbling marriage, forty-year-old Anna Lucia Lottol comes to Venice to visit an old friend―but instead of finding solace, she is dragged into the police station and accused of murdering a money-laundering count with whom she had a brief affair. A US Treasury officer with brains and athleticism, Anna fights to clear her name in a seductive city full of watery illusions. As she works to pry information from a cast of recalcitrant characters sometimes denying what she sees and hears, she succeeds in unleashing a powerful foe bent on destroying her. Will she save herself and vanquish her enemies, including her darkest fears? 

A mysterious tapestry of murder, betrayal, and family, Venetian Blood is a story of one woman’s brave quest for the truth ―before it’s too late.

*****

#FirstLine ~ 
Count Sergio Corrin gloated.

*****

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#MMBBR #Review #Interview #FirstLine #TheWelcomeHomeDiner by @dinnerfeed

Betting on the city of Detroit’s eventual comeback, cousins Addie and Samantha decide to risk it all on an affordable new house and a culinary career that starts with renovating a vintage diner in a depressed area of town. There’s just one little snag in their vision.

Angus, a weary, beloved local, is strongly opposed to his neighborhood’s gentrification—and his concerns reflect the suspicion of the community. Shocked by their reception, Addie and Samantha begin to have second thoughts.

As the long hours, problematic love interests, and underhanded pressures mount, the two women find themselves increasingly at odds, and soon their problems threaten everything they’ve worked for. If they are going to realize their dreams, Addie and Samantha must focus on rebuilding their relationship. But will the neighborhood open their hearts to welcome them home?

#FirstLine ~ If you're the last oerson to leave Detroit, don't forget to turn off the light.

Food, love and pride in the city The Welcome Home Diner will leave the reader feeling hungry for more...literally. I adored this book and all the ways it was unfolded for the reader. It was one of those reads that both inspires and delights. It will be a great read to snuggle up with this fall or winter.

Peggy Lampman is the award-winning, best-selling author of THE PROMISE KITCHEN and THE WELCOME HOME DINER, both published by Lake Union Publishing. She was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications, summa cum laude, from the University of Michigan. After graduating, she moved to New York City, where she worked as a copywriter and photographer for Hill and Knowlton, a public relations firm. She moved back to Ann Arbor, her college town, and opened up a specialty foods store, The Back Alley Gourmet. After selling the store, she wrote under a weekly food byline in The Ann Arbor News and MLive. 

Her free time is spent herding kids and indulging in her barbecue addiction with Big Green Egg cult cookery.

Q.  What inspires your writing?

A. THE WELCOME HOME DINER was inspired by an intimacy shared with my former daughter-in-law who opened a diner in a rough section of Detroit. As well, my experience having owned a specialty food store for twenty years lent much passion to this tale.

THE PROMISE KITCHEN reflects my interest in the American South (where I was raised) in all of her beauties and incongruities. As well, my husband and I have relatives that live in colorful communities. In THE PROMISE KITCHEN, I drew tremendous inspiration from folks that I’ve come to love, and appreciate their giving me license to become intimate with their landscape.

Q.  What is your favorite thing about being a writer?

A. It saves money on therapy (-: Seriously, I love the sanctity of drilling deep into my characters and uncovering their truths. It’s a way of digging at the roots of pain, and pulling them out.

Q.  What is the toughest part of being a writer?

A. That’s easy. Promoting my books. My publisher, Lake Union, is a wonderful help but these days authors must get out there and hustle. It’s a place well out of my comfort zone, but I’m getting more accustomed to the waters.

Q.  If you could not be writer, what would you do/be?

A. I would be a photojournalist––Annie Leibovitz is my idol. For this book, as well as my debut novel, THE PROMISE KITCHEN, my methodology began with my camera. A visual person, I take dozens of photographs that capture an emotion that I later channel into words.

Q.  What would the story of your life be entitled?

A. Chaos.

Q.  What is your favorite book of all time?

A. It always seems to be the last book I cried over. The last time I shed alligator tears was when reading Sue Monk Kidd’s THE INVENTION OF WINGS.

Q.  Which character from ANY book are you most like?

A. No doubt Skeeter, in Kathryn Stockett’s THE HELP. I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama in the sixties and my past was extraordinarily similar to hers. Also, we both take pleasure in getting even with “mean girls”. (-:

Q.  What character from all of your book are you most like?

A. Sadly, Mallory. We share similar pasts and stories. A character in THE PROMISE KITCHEN, she’s quite flawed, but working on her “stuff”.

Q.  Which book would you love to take a weekend vacation inside of?

A. Patricia Sands has a series of books set in Provence. I’d love to go there this Saturday. On Sunday, I’ll pop over to Edinburgh. I recently read a book, Alison Ragsdale’s THE FATHER-DAUGHTER CLUB, which is set there.

Q.  What is your favorite season?

A. Right now. Autumn. The colors on the trees, knowing that my favorite holiday—Thanksgiving—is just around the corner. What’s not to love about a holiday focusing on gratitude, family and food?

Q.  What inspired your book cover(s)?  Or what is your favorite book cover and why?

A. My publishing company decides my covers. I love the cover for THE WELCOME HOME DINER but worry that the cover for THE PROMISE KITCHEN may be misleading. It’s not a “cozy cupcake” sort of a read that the cover might suggest.

Q.  Tell me something funny that happened while on a book tour or while promoting your book.

A. A blogger requested professional photographs and I sent them (by mistake) a file of goofy pics of me and my kids. She was like—are you serious, Ms. Lampman?

Q.  Are you working on something new?

A. Yes. A new piece of women’s fiction titled, THE MAIDEN TOWER. In a nutshell, Linnea Chandler keeps the genesis of a life-altering phobia to herself—not such a good idea, as it turns out. Set in the quirky, colorful landscape of Key West, Florida, this is the story of a family held hostage by long-kept secrets and fears. At times humorous, at other times heart-breaking, you tell me of a family without a certain amount of dysfunction, and I’ll tell you of a family that is lying (-:

Q.  Anything you want to say to followers of this blog or those that are just stopping by?

A.  Thank you so much, dear readers, for taking an interest in my stories! That’s all the sugar this author needs to keep her engines fueled. I’ve a food and story blog, www.dinnerfeed.com where I’d love having you pay me a visit.

#MMBBR #Review #JackandAlmostJill by Jackie McReynolds-Ruchti @The_Owl_House

In this autobiographical tale, infant twins Jack and Jackie are adopted and brought to a new home on a farm. With their new family, Jack and Jackie have adventures catching frogs and fireflies, eating tomato sandwiches, and playing pretend with their new big brothers and sister. They discover that the love in an adopted family is the same as in other families--because family is all about love.

An adorable book about adoption.  It will help children understand adoption and help parents explain adoption to their children.  I loved how vibrant and colorful this book is, as it adds to how heartwarming the story is.  A great book to explain that family is all about love, no matter how it is made up.  

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#MMBBR #Review #FirstLine #TheBoyfriendSwap by @MeredithSchorr ‏@HeneryPress

THE BOYFRIEND SWAP by Meredith Schorr | A Henery Press book

If you love Christmas movies, as in you check the Hallmark Channel guide starting in July, then hang on to your stockings, because here comes the merriest of indulgences. It’s “The Proposal” meets “The Holiday” in print.

First meet Robyn Lane. She’s always dated struggling creative types, including her current squeeze (Perry, an actor). For this year’s Chrismukkah celebration, her parents would love her to bring someone stable, reliable, steadily employed. You know, with health insurance and a 401(k).

Now let’s meet Sidney Bellows. Her parents already plan her professional life (she’s an attorney at her father’s law firm). If she brings her current boyfriend (Will, an attorney) to the family Christmas extravaganza, her parents will have their wedding planned by New Year’s Eve.

Leave it to a mutual friend (and copious amounts of wine) to find a playful solution: Swap those boyfriends, fool the parents, and enjoy the holidays. It’s perfect! Robyn can show off a successful attorney boyfriend, and Sidney’s high-society family won’t ring those wedding bells when they meet a flaky actor beau.

The fun isn’t in the theory, it’s in the practice.

Will turns out to be the boy-next-door Robyn crushed on hard throughout her teenage years. Sidney’s family fawns all over Perry like he’s an Oscar-winner rather than a D-list wannabe.

Fool the parents? Enjoy the holidays? Swapping boyfriends never sounded so good or went so bad. Take time to read this one. It’s like Christmas in July.

#FirstLine
If asked to choose between a world without music and one without my mother, the choice would be a no-brainer-I'd give up music.

Such a delightful and fun read for the holidays. I adored it so much. I love how Schorr creates characters that are fun to read about. You cannot help but get lost in the world she creates because she blends humor and romance into a setting that is so interesting and then she throws in those lovable, and, at times, frustrating characters you cannot help but root for.  I highly recommend this book...I LOVED it!!!




A born and bred New Yorker, Meredith Schorr discovered her passion for writing when she began to enjoy drafting work-related e-mails way more than she was probably supposed to. After trying her hand penning children's stories and blogging her personal experiences, Meredith found her calling writing romantic comedy, women's fiction, and contemporary young adult fiction. She secures much inspiration from her day job as a hard-working trademark paralegal and her still single (but looking) status. Meredith is a loyal New York Yankees fan, an avid runner, and an unashamed television addict. To learn more, visit her at www.meredithschorr.com.

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#MMBBR #Review #FirstLine #Pupcakes by @aenoblin @Morrow_PB

Sit! Stay! Speak! author Annie England Noblin’s novel takes one woman starting over, adds an aging pug named Teddy Roosevelt, and proves the power of a well-baked dog treat.

All she wants is a settled-down life.

What she gets is a dog—and a whole new normal . . .

There he stood in the doorway: overweight, depressed and nearly homeless—a pug named Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy was Brydie Benson’s latest problem, arriving on top of her messy divorce and sudden move. Brydie needed a place to start over, so this rent-free home seemed a great idea. She just never counted on Teddy, or his owner, the Germantown Retirement Village’s toughest customer, Pauline Neumann.

Annie England Noblin

And because rent-free doesn’t mean bills-free, Brydie gets a night-shift job at a big-box grocery. Whoever guessed there were so many people who wanted baked goods after midnight?

Then, she gets an idea—why not combine her baking skills with her new-found dog knowledge? And so her store Pupcakes is born. Along with a new start comes a possible new love, in the form of Nathan Reid, a local doctor with a sassy Irish Wolfhound named Sasha. And as fall turns to winter, and then to Christmas, Brydie begins to realize that life is a little bit like learning a new recipe for puff pastry—it takes a few tries to get it just right!

#FirstLine ~ The dog came with the house.

This book is so delightful.  I love that this book both kept me engaged and got me excited for the holidays.  This read captures the sheer joy of reading books that get you caught up in the holidays...there is romance, a crazy pug (what is better than that!) with characters and a setting that made my heart happy.  A great read for readers that want to 

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