Novelas Romanticas Gratis

I'm always a sucker for a book that takes place in a bookshop or a library. Words like "witty" and "charming" were used to describe this novel, and I thought I was in for a lovely, summery, light read.   It wasn't quite like that, although I did like the novel. It was certainly slower in pace and more solemn that I expected. Loveday Cardew is a young woman working in a second-hand bookshop. It is her refuge from a past that left her living in foster homes and being on her own for most of her life. She's very private, and no one knows her past as a happy little girl with two loving parents, before it all went horribly wrong when she was ten years old. Now 25, she's found her small slice of contentment, and a family with the shop's owner, Archie, a delightfully charming man who seems to know everyone and has done everything.  Enter Nathan, who stops in the bookshop after losing his book of poetry near the bus stop. Loveday found it, and posted a no...

I've had a discussion with a number of people in the past few weeks about how I don't seem to have the time I used to for reading, and how it bothers me a lot.  They've all said the same thing: I just have more stuff going on day to day, and it leaves less time for reading.  BUT I DON'T WANT IT TO. Dang it. I've eagerly awaited Karen White's latest novel, and was excited to check it out at the library last week before I took a few days off for a family visit and party. I was happy thinking I could read this book in just a few days, in the quiet of my home.  Nope. That didn't happen. Instead, I was so busy with family, the only time I had to read was when I went to bed at night, and that lasted just a few minutes before my eyes were drifting shut.  It took me much longer to read Dreams of Falling that I expected or wanted to take. I finally finished it today when I got home from work. Phew.  You probably know I'm a big fan of Karen White, in particular he...

I had high hopes for this beginning to a new series, and I have mixed feelings. I'm not sure if I really enjoyed this, or was just underwhelmed, but not so underwhelmed that I loathed it.  I was caught up pretty quickly in the opening chapter, when Teddy Cannon, a young woman with a gift for gambling, enters the Bellagio in disguise to try her big chance at poker. She's been banned from all the casinos in Las Vegas, because she's got a pretty interesting gift: she can tell when people are bluffing. No cheating, just very good at it. But casinos don't like to lose big bucks, so she's on the outs. Unfortunately, she owes a lot of money to a local mobster, who will hurt her and her parents if she doesn't pay him back.  Teddy's run at the table ends in disaster, and resigned to what will probably be a painful meet up with the mobster, she instead is stopped by a man who claims to have the answer for her troubles. Clint, a former police officer, claims that Teddy...

It's been a long time since I've read a Mary Kay Andrews novel, and I'm happy to report her latest, The High Tide Club was just as entertaining as her previous novels.  Set on an island off the coast of Georgia, The High Tide Club centers around Josephine Bettendorf Warrick, a 99 year old woman who is dying of cancer, and wants to make amends with friends before she dies. Brooke Trappnell, a young lawyer in the small town St. Anne, is called in to help Josephine with her requests. Living in a crumbling pink mansion on the island of Talisa, Josephine wants to reconnect with the ladies of the High Tide Club: Ruth, Varina, and Millie. Unfortunately, only Varina still lives, but she's a fragile 91 year old. Brooke quickly realizes there's more to Josephine's story--she's quite the sassy, bossy, and tough lady, even in her last days.  Woven throughout the contemporary plot is the story of the High Tide Club, and a momentous evening in 1941, as Millie's engage...

In my quest to read more books off my shelves at home, I pulled Not a Sound  off a shelf the other day. I have met Heather Gudenkauf at a few book signings at my local B&N (she's an Iowa author) and I've read a few of her novels. They're all set in Iowa, and are thrillers. I have to say this is by far my favorite, and in my opinion, her best yet. She definitely stepped it up. Quick synopsis: Amelia Winn was a victim of a hit and run which left her profoundly deaf.  It also cost her a career as an emergency room nurse; she became an alcoholic to cope with it all and lost her marriage as a result. Still married, but separated from her doctor husband and step-daughter, Amelia is sober and living in a cabin in the woods. She has learned to lip read and has learned sign language, but is still coping with her deafness and living with her service dog, Stitch. She spends a lot of time kayaking, paddle boarding, and running. One morning she's out paddle boarding, enj...

This novel came into my reading life in a roundabout way.  I had purchased The Confectioner's Tale  by the same author, and started reading it.  Not quite 100 pages in, I got restless (my usual MO). I looked to see if she had written anything else, and Where the Wild Cherries Grow  popped up, and not only that, my library had it available.  Bingo! And thus began my summer reading with a lovely novel and a new author.  Sometimes an unexpected book comes along that is a delightful surprise. That's how I feel about this novel, and author Laura Madeleine. It was a refreshing read full of crisp smells, the tang of the ocean, the heat of the sun, and oh! the food!   Where the Wild Cherries Grow  is the story of a young woman who runs away from home to the South of France, and 50 years later, the young legal clerk who is assigned the task of finding out what happened to her. It's 1919, Emeline Vane has suffered too much loss in her short life: two o...