Novelas Romanticas Gratis

  Click here to buy from Amazon Well this book took me a bit to get through to the end. Mostly because it broke my heart over and over and I had to read it in bits and pieces.  I've heard so much about this book--tons of rave reviews, and even a few friends telling me about it. So I bought it last month and have been reading it since May 1st. Some books I can sail through; others take me a bit. This was a "take me a bit" kind of book. It's heavy. It's not a happy ever after. And even for the first 100 pages, I was wondering if I'd made a mistake and it wasn't a book for me.  But I kept with it, and wow, what a powerful, haunting novel. It's a bit of a thriller, murder mystery, and a family drama all rolled into one. It reminded me of Jane Harper's novels-the desolate feeling I get when I read them.  In a nutshell: Duchess and Robin Radley are two young kids who live with their mother, Star, in the small town of Cape Haven, California. They are dirt...

  Click here to purchase on Amazon I love cozy mysteries. Never thought I would, but they are my go to when I want a comfort read, or something light. That goes against the fact that there is a murder or two in each mystery, I know. But if you read cozy mysteries, you know what I mean! It's the small communities, the cast of characters, and in this case--the food.  I haven't had the pleasure of trying Filipino food, but I'm pretty sure I would love it if given a chance to try it. Food is a big part of Arsenic and Adobo , the first in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mysteries. Lila Macapagal has returned to her hometown of Shady Palms, Illinois to help out at her Tita Rosie's restaurant. She's really not happy to be back, but is escaping a just ended relationship in Chicago.  Her high school ex-boyfriend, Derek, arrives in the restaurant and is obnoxious and a jerk. He's been visiting the restaurant every day, ordering lots of food, and then writes terrible reviews...

  Click here to order from Amazon This was another book I saw at B&N and the cover grabbed me right away. It didn't look like a romantic comedy (it isn't), and when I read the blurb on the back cover, well, seeing it was set in Charleston had me adding it to my stack of books. I left B&N that day with a hefty bag of books and zero regret. Which, to be honest, is how I always leave B&N.  I'll be honest again and say I started reading it and thought, uh oh, I don't think I'm prepared to read a novel about a woman who is seeking to adopt a baby. It just wasn't what I was looking to read about. However, I kept reading (it was a welcome break from The Sanatorium !) and sure enough I got past the first 50 pages and settled into a charming novel about creating a family and finding a new beginning when it seems that all is lost.  Celia Fairchild is newly divorced and working in New York City as the popular newspaper advice columnist Dear Calpurnia....

  Warmer temps this past week have me perking up a bit. All the snow has disappeared from my yard and that makes me happy, too. Spring is definitely around the corner, and this novel hit all the right notes    and I couldn't have read it at a better time of the year.  Rosie is a sous chef at a very upscale restaurant in London. She's been married for some time, and beginning to think it's time to start a family. However, her husband decides to start a family with another woman, and leaves Rosie on her birthday . He tells her she's "boring".  Crushed, Rosie realizes she's at a dead end career-wise and besides, she just can't continue to work where everyone knows her husband left her (for another sous chef). She impulsively (late at night, drinking wine) buys a bright pink van, affectionately named Poppy, and decides to leave London to travel the country selling baked goods and tea at festivals. It's a pretty big switch from her organized London life...

  I'm absolutely thrilled I was able to actually read all of my February TBR books. It seems like a long time since I've been able to meet my monthly reading goal. The Survivors was my last read, and I powered through it the past few days. Once I got past the first hundred pages, it wasn't hard to stick with it until the very last shocking reveal. You should know I've read three of Jane Harper's novels, and her first novel, The Dry , remains one of my favorite books to recommend to readers. I read it and realized I was reading something amazing. Jane Harper's ability to create a setting that becomes a character in her thrillers is something that sets her novels apart. Nature--whether it's a summer of drought and dust, or a forest where the rainy season keeps it wet and miserable for weeks--or, in the case of The Survivors--a small beach town in Tasmania where the ocean dictates every day life; nature is always big, present, and demanding.  The Survivors ta...

  Another book I've had on my bookshelf for a bit and finally put it on my list for February. Even then, it took me a lot of stops and starts to finally jump into this tale of two chicken shops, a generational feud, and a food wars show with a big prize that could change everything.  Sisters Amanda and Mae are pretty different: Mae is a home organizing rising star in New York City; she's got a popular book out, and is in the running for a co-hosting job on a popular home show. She's all about being organized; everything in its place and a place for everything. This is a direct reaction to her childhood and her mother, Barbara. Amanda still lives in Merinac, Kansas. She helps run her late husband's restaurant-Frannie's. Amanda and Mae's mother, Barbara, runs Mimi's-also a chicken restaurant.  Way back in the 1880's, Mimi and Frannie were two sisters running their own chicken shack. Then a feud erupted between the sisters, and Frannie set up he...

  I cannot resist reading about women who move to the country and live a farming life. I guess it's because I think they're very brave. And they're so darn handy at creating something out of nothing, or using very little to create that something. Hilarie Burton Morgan joins my list of women I admire, who roll up their sleeves and jump in with a brave heart.  The Rural Diaries  is about Hilarie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (you know, that heartthrob of a guy from Grey's Anatomy, and the nasty Negan from The Walking Dead), and their decision to move to Rhinebeck, New York and live on a farm.  After meeting in L.A. through mutual friends, their connection was pretty quick and deep. Driving through Rhinebeck, they immediately felt at home and wanted to put down roots away from the craziness of Hollywood. And so they did.  But this story is not all fairy tale and happy ending; at least not for a few years. Hilarie recounts their beginnings, with their young son Gus, ...

I had to start out my December reads by finishing this cozy mystery, the second in the Literary Pub Mystery series by Sarah Fox. I reviewed the first in the series back in March: Wine and Punishment , and enjoyed it enough that I had to snatch the second mystery up as soon as it came into the library. I can't wait to see what happens with the third in the series.  This cozy mystery is set in the little town of Shady Creek, Vermont. It's winter, and time for the annual Winter Carnival, a week-long event that includes an ice sculpting contest, a hockey tournament, a parade, and lots of activities for tourists and townspeople.  Sadie, our intrepid mystery sleuth, continues to run her literary pub The Inkwell, and is a bit melancholy about the upcoming Christmas season--it's her first in her new hometown, and she'll be spending it alone-all her family will be traveling around and no one will be home. But before she can think too much about it, one of the competitors in the ...

Another novel that involves books, bookstores, literary references, and quirky characters. They are my reset kind of novel, when I need a mental break from the daily "stuff" and pure escapism. My partner finds that in movies, I prefer books.  Nina is a 29 year old women who lives with her cat Phil, works in a bookstore, and is so organized it makes my teeth hurt. Plus, I'm a little envious of the organization, I've got to admit. But Nina is a little too organized, and her mind is running a million miles a minute. She's on a trivia team, and her head is stuffed with bits of facts about everything. Life is pretty good for Nina, until she finds out that the man who was her father has died, and she's in his will.  This man was someone Nina never knew. Her mother, a world traveling photographer, had a quick fling, found out the man was married, and that was that. Except Nina arrived 9 months later. She had an unusual childhood-she was raised by a nanny while her mo...

I've said it a million times, and I'll say it again: cover art sucks me in every time. The woman on this cover pulls off a look that I could have never, ever pulled off! It sets the tone for the story of Alice Weiss, a newcomer to New York City in 1965.   Alice arrives in NYC from Youngstown, Ohio, old camera in hand, ready to dive into her love of photography. She hopes to find a job as a photographer, but quickly realizes her portfolio of photos is unimpressive in a city known for high fashion. An old family friend hooks Alice up with an interview for secretary to a new editor in chief at Cosmopolitan magazine: Helen Gurley Brown.  Alice takes the job, since it's the only one she's been offered, and it's steady employment. The world she enters is pretty fast paced, and HGB is not your typical executive. As the new-and first-woman editor for Cosmopolitan, she's got quite a few different ideas about what a woman's magazine needs to be, and she's meeting ...

I was surprised and super happy to have this novel arrive in my mail from Crooked Lane Press. I always say books find people at the right moments, and somehow, the folks at Crooked Lane Press knew I needed this book. Never doubt the magic of books. Ruth Hogan's first novel, The Keeper of Lost Things , was published in 2017 and I happily reviewed it. She has a remarkable gift for writing that captivated me, and I'm happy to say her second novel cast a similar spell over me. Whomever designs her book covers, sheesh! They are amazingly beautiful. Can't help but pick it up just based on the cover art.  Masha is a woman who lives with grief. Twelve years before, she lost her toddler son, Gabriel, in a freak accident. More horribly, his body was never recovered from the little creek it was presumed he fell into and drowned. Masha punishes herself by going to the local swimming pool all year round (it's outside) and dives into the deep end and holds her breath. She wants to f...

I finished this novel early this week, but wanted to take a little time to think about it--and then the week hit, and holy heck it was a busy one! Now it's Friday evening, and before I make a cocktail and have date night with my boyfriend, I'm going to tell you about this unexpectedly sweet novel about friendship and trees.  May Attaway is a forty year old single woman who still lives in the home she grew up in; her father lives downstairs, and she has the top half of the house. She's part of the grounds crew at the local university, and she's  an expert at cultivating trees and plants. She's a bit of an introvert in that she goes to work, spends a minimal amount of time in conversation every day, then goes home. Her friends? Well, she doesn't really have any close friends.  A surprise gift from the university (a month of paid time off) has May ruminating on how to spend that time. She begins noticing people all around her who have friendships: the two elderly l...

I read this novel a week ago and discussed it with my book group last Tuesday. Even time away from it, and our group discussion, doesn't help my "meh" opinion about this thriller.  Some readers absolutely do not like to read novels where they can't find a character likable, and that certainly was the case for a few of my fellow book group members. I prefer to like characters; but I've also found that disliking one or more (or in this case, all) of the characters can make for an interesting read. Or not. I was really hoping this would be a good thriller, but it was full of holes, characters that didn't learn a darn thing from previous screw ups, and left a very unsatisfying ending.  Four women are brought together after many years apart when a body is unearthed on a beach near the English seaside village of Salten. Seventeen years before, the women, then young teens, had become fast friends while attending boarding school. Kate, Thea, Fatima, and Freya had a ga...

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 mystery series, but unfortunately I was disappointed.  Set in the Scottish town of Inversgail, four women have purchased the local bookstore Yon Bonnie Books, with additional plans to open a tea shop next door, and have rooms upstairs for overnight guests.  Janet and her daughter, Tallie, have moved from Illinois. Janet's tie to Inversgail is a vacation home she and her now ex-husband bought and used for years before their divorce. It will now be Janet's permanent home. Janet's friend Christine, and Tallie's friend Summer have also moved to Inversgail to help run the tea shop and bookstore.  It's a fresh start for all the women--but murder and mayhem quickly make an appearance.  The local advice columnist and reporter is found murdered in the shed behind Janet's home. An unpleasant woman, Una is the local font of all gossip, and sticks her nose in everyone's business, while remaining secretive about hers. There are a number of susp...

Finding this book in the library was a very happy surprise.  I immediately checked it out and was able to zip through it in a few days.  I read Lorna Landvik's Patty Jane's House of Curl  years ago and had enjoyed it but it has been so many years I didn't remember much of the story. I can only remember that it took place in Minnesota and I liked it very much.  Plus, I needed a bit of space after reading A Column of Fire. In Once in a Blue Moon Lodge , we return to Minnesota,1988.  Patty Jane has decided it's time to close down her House of Curl, etc.  What began as a hair salon morphed into not only a place where you could get a color and a cut, but a salon where the neighbors attended salsa dancing, author visits, music recitals, and all sorts of classes and events.  It was truly an unusual place, and quite popular.  But Patty Jane is ready to travel and enjoy time with her live in partner, Clyde.  Patty's husband, Thor, also lives in ...

I recently had the opportunity to talk to a class of graduate students in library science about my blog.  This class was discussing The Hive  for that week's look at the chick lit genre, and so I took the opportunity to read the book so I could take part in the discussion.  I realized just how much I had missed reading British women's fiction that could be classified as chick lit, a genre that has evolved since the term was first coined.   I am a big geek when it comes to British authors writing about contemporary British women.  I was surprised and charmed by this novel, which centered around a group of women who all had children attending St. Ambrose school in a town outside of London. The "queen bee" of the group was Beatrice.  She somehow managed to always get everyone else to do all the work, while she took credit for everything.  And somehow, the women in the group thought she was just fantastic.  Rachel is a children's book illustrator...

I like Anna Kendrick.  I first became aware of her watching Twilight, as Bella's friend at her new high school.  Didn't think much of it; it was a small part. Next thing I know, she's appearing alongside George Clooney in Up in the Air; that garners her an Oscar nomination.  What?!  Then I see she can sing and upon further investigation, was on Broadway at age twelve and nominated for a Tony.  Holy crap.  And she's barely thirty years old. May I also mention her twitter comments are hilarious?  Anna's memoir, Scrappy Little Nobody , is funny, self-deprecating, and full of all the angst and guessing we all go through when we're just starting out in life and have no clue who we are and what we want.  She was always a tiny person and looked years younger than she actually was; this proved to be both an advantage when it came to casting, and a disadvantage when it came to casting.  She loves being on stage, and theater is her first love; acting ...

Once again, I read the sequel and missed the original novel.  Hot Flash Holidays is the follow-up to The Hot Flash Club , but I didn't feel too left out by not reading it first.   Hot Flash Holidays actually takes place over a year, beginning at Christmas, and ending the next year at Christmas.  Five friends, all in their 50's and 60's, begin Christmas with high hopes for happy times with family and friends. Marilyn, Polly, Shirley, Faye, and Alice are all at crossroads in their lives, but none of them are prepared for the ups and downs that life throws at them as their Christmas celebrations fall short of their hoped for good times.  It's an indication of what's to come in the new year, as each woman struggles to find what makes them happy, and balance what they want with the demands of boyfriends, grown children, and for Marilyn, an aging mother who comes to stay with her for an extended visit.  As the year rolls on, and all of the holidays come and go,...

I had a wonderful vacation:  two weeks in Italy with friends.  We traveled to Rome, then the seaside town of Salerno, and finished up in Venice.  The weather was beautiful, the food was great, and it was a trip of a lifetime.   Of course, I had my books with me, and got some reading done on the plane rides and at night before hitting the sack (but not much--full days of walking everywhere had me tired and ready for sleep!).  I'll be posting my review of three Heather Graham Krewe of Hunters novels later this week.  Simon Green will have to wait...but in the meantime, I did read the new Fannie Flagg novel that's being published at the end of November.  I got sucked into it and read it on the flight home.  9 hours in various planes gives you time to get some serious reading done! I must confess this is my first Fannie Flagg novel.  I have a few on my bookshelves, bought with the intention of reading them right away.  But of course lif...