*B Rating

Review and Giveaway: My Life as a Lumberjack by Sara V. Olds

June 17, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 13 Comments

My Life as a Lumberjack or How I Fell for the Wrong Guy(s)
By Sara V. Olds
Publisher: Astrea Press
Publication Date: May 30, 2013
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Source: Publisher for Blog Tour

Me, Mercedes Bennion? Working for the US Forest Service? I’ve never thought of myself as the outdoorsy, hard-working type. But one quick glance at those mouth-watering forest rangers and oh, baby, sign this seventeen-year-old up for a whole summer of fresh air, mountains and starry, starry nights!

Goodreads Summary

Purchase My Life as a Lumberjack:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

I think it’s my own fear of insects and sleeping outside that makes me take a second look at YA books that come along about summer camps. I actually was a Girl Scout and did camp successfully, but one year some sort of phobia set in and that was it and I haven’t set foot in a tent since then. I still love reading about them though – I love the friendships that develop over the summer and there are always a million stories to be told.

My Life as a Lumberjack begins with Mercedes “Merck” “Benz” Bennion – she prefers Benz – and her best friend Conor Perry showing up for duty for their new summer jobs with the U.S. Forest Service Youth Conservation Corps. Expecting nerdy dweeb phone recruiter Norm, Benz is blown away when Norse God Norm of the U.S. Forest Service shows up to gather the campers and escort them to camp. The kids are all divided into groups and each group is sent to a different area where something needs to be done each week, setting up new camps and heading home on the weekends.

Since the action was with Benz’s group, the detail the author gave to the jobs they did was really a blast to read. From building corrals, tarring troughs and seeding, I could see it all. I had the best time actually in the camps, when everyone sat around making s’mores, wanting to punch certain people, figuring out how to take showers and mooning over the opposite sex. I think I actually learned how to make an omelet in a plastic bag in boiling water.

Benz was a complete nut and gets in the most ridiculous situations. She’s kind of bratty – I think mostly without meaning to. She has absolutely no filter because she’s just that confident. She flirts a lot with Norm and Dan, Dan the Mountain Man, another Forest Service Ranger she meets and is completely oblivious to situations with other boys going on around her. She’s a serious klutz, which I admire as a fellow member of the Ridiculously Clumsy Club. Conor was absolutely adorable in the way only a jealous guy BFF can be. He’s cranky most of the time, which made me want to hug him. I just love guys like that! The members of Benz’s crew are all awesome, especially Adrienne who turns out to be a little spitfire, yummy Matt who’s always around when Benz is in trouble and the hilariously obnoxious twins David and Keith. I was flipping the pages just to see what on earth these kids were going to be doing next.

It killed me, but I had to take a trim to my rating because there were a couple of places where my credulity was stretched just a little too thin. I had a lot of fun with the story and was willing to let a whole lot of things fly in the name of a great story because they made me laugh, but let’s just say some things read a bit like a teenage girl’s fantasy. Not that that’s a bad thing. It also ended a little more abruptly than I’d have liked. I wanted more time to savor Benz’s happiness and maybe see some plans for later. I didn’t want the story to end.

This was just flat-out fun and diverting and would be a perfect light summer read. It would take some heavy persuasion to get me to go hiking, let alone camping, so it was great to hang out with the YCC. I loved the camaraderie that developed in Benz’s crew and the way their group and Conor’s turned into a big dysfunctional family by the end of the summer. As the summer came to a close, I had to believe everyone was coming back next year and they’d fall back into their friendships because it was just that good.

It doesn’t matter how many times I remind myself not to judge a book by its cover, I still get a little revved up by a pretty one. Those cute purple hiking boots had me hoping for a fun story and My Life as a Lumberjack or How I Fell for the Wrong Guy(s) delivered one. I loved it from beginning to end, along with every scratch, bug bite, swoon, undercooked pancake, bedhead, blister, leaking tent and camp crush in between. Sequel, sequel!

My Rating: B+

About the author:

Sara V. Olds has been telling stories for as long as she can remember. One of her favorite memories is of unfolding a tale for friends while they were all bundled in sleeping bags watching a comet shower in the Uintah Mountains.
Mother of three: Large, Medium and Small, she welcomes her newest role, that of mother-in-law.

Life has taken her from thither to yon and back again—she’s moved 22 times during her marriage. She breathes to travel. Longs to fulfill a lifelong dream of owning a horse. Is an addictive reader. Enjoys swimming, skiing, violin and movies. Wonders if she’ll ever get to SCUBA dive again. And has found a calling that fulfills her in ways she never could have imagined—teaching history to—wait for it—8th Graders.

Her stories consume her. There’s nothing she’d rather do than spend all day, all night and the next day conversing with her latest set of characters. History, adventure, action, romance, humor. Adults, YA and kids. Yep, she does it all. Looking for something to enjoy on a quiet rainy afternoon? Or wanting a pulse-pounding, stay up all night turning pages adventure? Or a you’ve-GOT-to-be-kidding romp? You’ll find them in her pages.

Connect with Sara:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Sara is holding a tour-wide giveaway for 5 ebook copies of My Life as a Lumberjack (open to international entries). Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: *B Rating, 2013 Contemporary Challenge, 2013 Ebook Challenge, 2013 Standalone Challenge, Barbara Recommends, Contemporary/Romance, Giveaway, Young Adult Tagged With: Sara V. Olds

Review: Just My Luck (Shamrock Falls #3) by Kelley Vitollo

June 1, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 1 Comment

Just My Luck (Shamrock Falls #3)
By Kelley Vitollo
Publisher: Entangled: Bliss
Publication Date: June 10, 2013
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Source: Publisher

Her friend. Her boss. Her husband?

Betsy Harris has always known Jace Macnamara was off-limits. Not only is he a close friend, he also happens to be her boss—making him doubly forbidden. Betsy’s too timid to ever admit her crush, nor ‘fess up to the fact that she’s secretly drowning in her mother’s medical bills.

Jace just found out he needs a wife and needs one now. His childhood home—the last reminder he has of his deceased” parents—can only become his if he gets married, but Jace, ever the playboy, never dreamed of settling down for real. Neither Betsy nor Jace wants to ruin their friendship when their fake marriage inevitably ends, so they vow to keep things light, professional, easy. But as Betsy comes out of her shell, Jace begins to see his “wife” for the beautiful, caring woman she is. Can he risk their past for a future together?

Goodreads Summary

Add Lucky Break (Shamrock Falls #1) to your shelf | Add Luck of the Draw (Shamrock Falls #2) to your shelf

Pre-order Just My Luck (Shamrock Falls #3):
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBookstore

It didn’t take me too long to decide to read Just My Luck – it’s from Entangled’s Bliss line, which I love, features a marriage of convenience between friends, which is in my top 5 favorite tropes and it’s written by Kelley Vitollo, who writes new adult fiction as Nyrae Dawn, an author I enjoy. I had a muggy, rainy afternoon, my air-conditioning set to 68 degrees and my 64 oz. insulated mug of sweet tea by my chair (hey, it’s how I roll) – it was perfect for sitting back and enjoying the book.

First things first – this is the third book in a series, but I had no trouble reading it as a standalone. The two couples from the earlier books appear here and there are passing references to their stories, but nothing that made me feel like I had to have read their books to know what was going on. They’re a fun bunch though and I want to read their books!

Betsy Harris is a perfect legal secretary for Jace Macnamara. She practically knows what he’s thinking before he does, she’s the most dependable person he knows and if she has a little unrequited crush, well, he’s not the kind of guy who’s going to hurt her. When his grandfather dies and makes getting married for six months a stipulation for inheriting his childhood home, Jace is torn between asking the one person who will understand this needs to be all business, but is the same person who’ll be devastated if their relationship is ruined by this – Betsy.

Betsy is going through a lot of personal drama of her own at the time and was really in a prime position for Jace to make his proposition to her. She has a long-term responsibility of her own that she’s afraid to tell Jace about and not only is it expensive, it wears on her emotionally. Later on, I understood more about why it was such a big deal, but during the story, I wanted to smack her over the head with my shoe and tell her to just tell Jace about things! It wasn’t like he was a stranger. Ditto to Jace! He knew she had feelings for him so it wasn’t like he couldn’t confess a thing or two to her. Thwap, thwap, thwap. Then they went and made me cry and I felt bad about beating them with my shoe.

Unfortunately, as much as I liked them and sniffled over them, a lot about Jace and Betsy was familiar. Betsy was shy, blushing and virginal, didn’t know she was attractive and had an unrequited crush on her boss. Jace was a rich boy who lost his parents when he was young and only had superficial relationships with people because he never knew if they liked him for himself or his money. There were things about both of them that still engaged me – Betsy’s unexpected love of sports, Jace’s close relationship with his late grandfather’s wife Debbie and the bonds they both had with their friends – but it was difficult for me to break them out of the “Stereotype” mold once I put them there in my head. Their romance was slow, soft and sweet rather than hot and passionate, which is perfectly normal for the Bliss line not to mention normal for their situation. I did like that Jace respected the totally mixed signals Betsy was sending him and kept things light for her.

I couldn’t help but feel like this wrapped up a little too suddenly and neatly for the drama that had been building, and as a result of that and the issues I had with the characters, this was a rare miss from this particular imprint from Entangled for me. I still had my tissues out several times, but it was because of the sobby spots in the story that may have tugged my heart with other characters too. I love the way Vitollo writes – it’s perfectly clean and funny, with smooth dialogue and an effortless sense of affection between characters. I’m still going to go grab the other two books in the series because I liked the characters and they sound like they have interesting stories too – and let’s face it, this is a terrifically priced line. I just wished this book would have been more for me.

My Rating: B-

Filed Under: *B Rating, 2013 Ebook Challenge, Contemporary/Romance Tagged With: Kelley Vitollo

Review: Day After (The 19th Year #2) by Emi Gayle

May 27, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 12 Comments

Day After (The 19th Year #2)
By Emi Gayle
Publisher: J. Taylor Publishing
Publication Date: May 6, 2013
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Source: Publisher

Add After Dark

Demon crypts. Vampire lairs. Glowing angels. Sexy sirens. The stuff of fiction.

Or so Winn Thomas always thought.

Since being accepted into the fold of the supernatural, he knows better. None of what he imagined is true, but everything he feared is, and binding himself to his Changeling girlfriend until her nineteenth birthday will give him an education far beyond what he’d get at his human high school.

Luckily, Winn’s not giving up, he won’t back down, and he definitely isn’t going to run away with his tail between his legs. After all, only werewolves have tails. Right?

In this, the second of the 19th Year trilogy, Winn’s facing the challenge of one lifetime. If he doesn’t learn the truth about mythological creatures, his girlfriend Mac Thorne won’t either. That means, in six months, when she chooses her final form, she won’t know what to pick.

Winn, though, has his own ideas about Mac’s final selection—plans she knows nothing of.

He intends to have her pick human.

Whether she can or not.

Goodreads Summary

I loved After Dark from the very first chapter, so I’ve been anxious to get to the second book and dive back into Mac and Winn’s story. When I heard that Day After was going to be from Winn’s POV it was like an extra bonus, since I’ve kind of gotten addicted to shifting girl/guy first person POVs lately. I’m going to try to avoid any spoilers from the first book, especially since I want to make sure you all go read it, then this one.

Mac is getting closer to her nineteenth birthday and even though she’s been warned of the consequences of a changeling not picking a final form, she hasn’t gotten any closer to choosing. She’s getting pressure from everyone on the Council, and with all their ulterior motives, she isn’t able to trust any of them, only Winn. He agrees to be her teacher, accepting that he has to follow the same rules the Council does – whatever he learns from his own research, he’s bound to only answer her questions, he can’t outright tell her anything. For a boy in love with a girl whose choice could tear them apart forever if he doesn’t uncover the right information, it’s a tough job.

I love the concept Gayle came up with for this story and how she’s built the world. I expected to be entertained, but I was absolutely glued to After Dark until the end. I wasn’t as in love with this one and it had to do with Winn’s voice and the romance because for the most part, I loved the story and expansion of the world even more.

In this book, we meet and get to know each of the Council members up close and personal and they’re both scarier and nicer than they were in the first book. Mac has allies I didn’t expect and I liked that Gayle has me wondering even now about who really meant the things they said. In particular, Raven the Angel surprised me. She seemed so nasty and cold before, but through Winn’s eyes, I saw different things in her too, things that I don’t thing Mac would have the ability to step back and see. The demon Suze has a big part in this book and is absolutely hilarious. I don’t even know what to compare him to, but a demon that goes to pick Mac up from school in a Hummer wearing a spandex costume with a banana hammock pretty much defies description anyway. He also likes to cook in the nude, scaring everyone that drops by. A demon. In the nude. He’s the perfect touch in a book that takes the characters to some dark places.

Mac gets put through the wringer in this book and I didn’t particularly like the way she looked in Winn’s eyes. I loved her in the first book – she was strong, clear-headed, a completely badass fighter, snarky and so cute when she started discovering she had feelings about lesser humans. I found this Mac to be too much of a hothead, impulsive and inconsistent – she was still quite a snarky badass though, which was great. I’m very interested to see what Winn’s POV is of her in the next book is.

I’m sad to say, I wasn’t thrilled with Winn’s POV. In the beginning, I didn’t get a distinct idea of what his personality was. His voice felt kind of generic and not like the Winn I knew from After Dark. It wasn’t until the middle of the book that I picked up on his personality and by then, Mac was such a force that he was overshadowed. I loved that he was doing so much for her – and this is going to sound weird – but in this book, I had the feeling that he was a brain, not really a fully rounded guy. There needed to be a big, big amount of plot movement and it had to involve what Mac learned about herself, so I had to give him some slack for being the vessel that was necessary to deliver all of it, but I wanted more Winn and old Mac time too.

There wasn’t as much romance through this book as the first, mostly because there was a lot of conflict all around. It made for a lot of drama and the romantic gestures that were there were very big and heart-clenching. Prepare for all sorts of up and downs ahead, I’m afraid they’re coming before these two get their happy ending. I’m crossing my fingers I won’t have a heart attack first.

Even though I didn’t particularly like Winn’s POV, I loved the story too much to really knock my rating down very far. Gayle has such a talent for pulling you into her world and keeping you there, no matter how crazy the story gets. I love how she keeps layering on her mythology and characters so I never feel like I’ve had information dumped on me or that I don’t know who’s who. I have one big complaint though and everyone who knows me can understand why this one killed me – why did it have to end way?! Whyyyyyyyyy?

My Rating: B+

The final book in the trilogy, Darkest Day (The 19th Year #3) has an anticipated publication date of January 6, 2014.

About the author:

I had a really great bio in my head around midnight one night …. right before I fell asleep and it disappeared into the nothingness of unconsciousness. Bummer. So here’s something less well thought out.

I want to be young again, so I’m kinda sorta living it again. At least on paper. You see, I write paranormal romance. Now, that stuff can get really hot, and really gritty and well … mine does. But! My characters are teenagers, 18 and under. Like I was once … and want to be again.

Why would I want to be a teenager again? Geez. Because! If you met the man of your dreams at 14 was engaged to him at 19 and married him at 20, wouldn’t YOU want to do all that over again? Especially if you were still in love with him? I mean, c’mon! It’s love! That’s why I write, too.

You see… just because you pass a certain age doesn’t mean you forget what it was like to be 14, 15, etc. Actually, because I kinda grew up with my husband, we both still feel like the 14 and 17 year old kids we once were. So that’s where I’m coming from. You might think it’s totally lame, but you know what? That’s ok! Maybe you’ll like my other me instead.

Connect with Emi:

Website and Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Photo and bio from EmiGayle.com

Filed Under: *B Rating, 2013 Ebook Challenge, Paranormal, Young Adult Tagged With: Emi Gayle

Descendant by Nichole Giles: Review, Playlist and Giveaway

May 10, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 13 Comments

Descendant
By Nichole Giles
Publisher: Rhemalda Publishing
Publication Date: May 1, 2013
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Source: Author Tour
Available for purchase at: Amazon | B&N | The Book Depository | IndieBound

Seventeen-year-old Abigail Johnson is Gifted.

Blessed—or cursed—with Sight and Healing, Abby lives an unsettled life, moving from place to place and staying one step ahead of the darkness that hunts her. When she arrives in Jackson, Wyoming, she is desperate to maintain the illusion of normalcy, but she is plagued with visions of past lives mixed with frightening glimpses of her future. Then she meets Kye, a mysterious boy who seems so achingly familiar that Abby is drawn to him like he’s a missing piece of her own soul.

Before Abby can discover the reason for her feelings toward Kye, the darkness catches up to her and she is forced to flee again. But this time she’s not just running. She is fighting back with Kye at her side, and it’s not just Abby’s life at stake.

Goodreads Summary

Under the tutelage of her beloved grandmother, Abby has been learning to use the natural Gifts of Healing and Sight that she was born with. Abby can see flashes of the past and visions of people in the present, and with herbs and crystals, heal people (and her pet dog). According to her mom and grandmother, those same Gifts make them hunted, so each time they think someone may have noticed Abby, they have to move. When something horrible happens this time, it’s time to say hello to Jackson, Wyoming.

At school, Abby gravitates to a small group of friends, including the ridiculously influential Rose, her friend Jen and Eric, a boy who has a perma-crush on her, but the one boy she feels compelled to talk to keeps his distance until they get stuck together on a bus trip. When Abby looks into Kye’s eyes, she feels like she knows him and during their bus trip, the two talk like they do. Something strange, almost supernatural happens, and Kye reveals why it seems like they know each other, why Abby’s been on the run – he knows a lot more about Abby’s life than she does.

Wow. Well, there turned out to be a lot more to this story than the synopsis said. It took me quite a bit longer to read, since I had complete information overload at times, but it was quite an interesting story. Abby really was in the dark about her Gifts and her heritage. The story started as something relatively simple – if you can call the ability to heal and see into the past and have visions simple- then it added sprites, demons, elemental gifts and curses. It covered a few states and a few realms and a few people were sort of, kind of dead. Even though I had to take a couple of breaks, it was still a thrilling ride.

I really liked Abby and how she managed to roll with everything Kye told her and she experienced through the Sight. She came up with some smart solutions when the two of them got into sticky situations and stuck with Kye, even knowing more than he did about the outcome of some things because of the visions she had. I thought it was funny that she was always waiting for him to put the moves on her and he was always literally dragging her around because she was tired – and eternally hungry – and they had to run. Kye was sweet and seemed much, much older than his eighteen years. In a lot of ways, he was almost too perfect for Abby. He had the platinum credit card, they did have that insta-connection, which blossomed into a fast love and because he knew things about the past before she did, it seemed like it was an excuse to be extra loving. Don’t get me wrong, it was very sweet and once it was combined with the action, a good amount of sweet, but he seemed to fall on the ultra-nice side of the boyfriend spectrum. I could just be reading too many jerk-boyfriend books lately too.

Rose, Jen and Eric all turned out to have their own little surprises, and were nice supporting characters. Eric in particular was a character who did things I didn’t expect. Kye had a sort of confusing list of people he lived with – I never could keep the names straight for some reason – that came in handy and his dad was funny in an absentee professor sort of way. I was sort of disappointed in Abby’s mom. She wasn’t as present as I’d hoped and Abby’s non-reaction to it bugged me too. I don’t really like this continuing trend of having invisible parents in YA.

Overall, I enjoyed Descendant a lot. It was hugely action-packed and had a big emotional past story that tied into the present story nicely. There was less focus on the Gifts than I expected from the synopsis and more on the fantasy elements, but the way it was put together worked well and Giles has a nice clean writing style that made everything easy to read. The ending tied the current story up nicely, the guy got his girl and although this looks like a standalone, there’s always room for more.

My Rating: B+

From Nichole: I tried to put these in order of scene—sort of. Obviously there’s not one for every scene, because that would be a ridiculously long list. So I tried to think of the story in terms of movie length, and these are some of the songs I came up with.

1. How Does it Feel by Avril Lavigne
2. Redemption Day by Sheryl Crow
3. Home by Philip Phillips
4. Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol
5. Starlight by Taylor Swift
6. Naked by Avril Lavigne
7. Til Kingdom Come by Coldplay
8. Hold on to the Night by Richard Marx
9. Stranger by Secondhand Serenade
10. Catalyst by Anna Nalick
11. What I’ve Done by Linkin Park
12. Wait for Me by Theory of a Deadman
13. Far Away by Nickelback

Obviously, I have a wide range of taste in music. I hope my stories reflect that diversity as well. What do you think? Are there specific songs you’d add to this list?

About Nichole:
Nichole Giles was born in Nevada, and moved with her parents to a number of cities in and around the West. Writing is her passion, but she also loves to spend time with her husband and four children, travel to tropical and exotic destinations, drive in the rain with the convertible top down, and play music at full volume so she can sing along.

For the list of the awesomeness Nichole is giving away, click on the animated banner up top. You can also see the entire tour schedule there! The giveaway is US only and runs May 6th to June 5th.

********

Praise for DESCENDANT: “A hot new spin on paranormal, Descendant is refreshingly imaginative and powerful. I can’t decide which was best — piecing together Abby’s sinister past or keeping up with her heartbreaking future. If you like your YA laced with melt-my-heart romance and a good helping of heart-pounding suspense, you’ll love this book!” — Michelle Davidson Argyle, author of The Breakaway

“Nichole Giles has crafted a story that breathes from the pages. Her characters are authentic, the action intense, with powerful emotions that will keep Descendant on your mind long after the book ends. Open your eyes to another facet of our world in Descendant and you’ll be sucked into an adventure with Abby and Kye, that will explore the power of gifts, courage, and love. With top-notch writing, Giles has crafted a story that breathes from the pages.” –Rachelle J. Christensen, award-winning author of Wrong Number and Caller ID

“Nichole Giles brings a fresh new voice and flawless writing technique to the world of Young Adult fiction. I was swept away to another place and never wanted to come back.” –Tristi Pinkston, author of Turning Pages and the Secret Sisters mystery series

“This debut novel delivers in all the right ways, with heart-pounding action and a delicious romance that sweeps centuries. I loved it!” –Elana Johnson, author of Possession and Surrender

Filed Under: *B Rating, 2013 Debut Author Challenge, 2013 Ebook Challenge, 2013 Standalone Challenge, Fantasy, Giveaway, Young Adult Tagged With: Nichole Giles

Review: Wind Chime Point (Ocean Breeze #2) by Sherryl Woods

May 6, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 4 Comments

Wind Chime Point (Ocean Breeze #2)
By Sherryl Woods
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Publication Date: April 30, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: Publisher

Facing a personal crisis, ambitious and driven Gabriella Castle retreats to the welcoming arms of her family. Everything she’s worked for has been yanked out from under her, and she seeks the serenity of her grandmother’s home on the North Carolina coast. With difficult decisions to make about her future, the last thing she wants is an unexpected love.

Wade Johnson fell for Gabi the first time he saw her. It’s not the only time he’s found himself in the role of knight in shining armor, but Gabi isn’t looking for a rescuer. To get her to stay, Wade will need a whole lot of patience and gentle persuasion and maybe the soothing sound of wind chimes on a summer breeze.

Goodreads Summary

Add Sand Castle Bay (Ocean Breeze #1) to your Shelf

Last month, I read and really enjoyed the first book in this series, Sand Castle Bay. It had been a while since I’d read a lighter adult contemporary that had that small-town, family feeling and it satisfied a craving I didn’t even know I’d had. Wind Chime Point is a wonderful sequel, a little more of a character study, a little less intense romantically, but just as satisfying in its own way.

When we last saw the three Castle sisters, they’d been leaving Sand Castle Bay after helping their grandmother Cora Jane clean up her restaurant after the hurricane. Career-driven, Type-A personality Gabi had seemed unusually troubled and hard to reach, and the reasons are quickly apparent. Back in Raleigh, Gabi is in a situation she of all people would never have expected: she’s pregnant and jobless. At a loss for the first time in her life, she retreats back to Sand Castle Bay to decide what to do.

The last time she was there, sneaky matchmaker Cora Jane had seen that Gabi’s superficial relationship in Raleigh wasn’t working out and had tried to start something between her and cabinet maker/wood artist Wade Johnson, but Gabi wasn’t having any of it. But Wade…he was definitely interested. Now that the boyfriend is out of the picture, he’s ready to make his move, but the timing couldn’t be worse for her to think about romance.

Gabi and Wade’s story was so different from Em and Boone’s that I barely know where to start. Maybe starting with the similarities would be easier: I love that the same sense of family and community is here, that the sisters, Cora Jane, Jerry, Boone and Ethan are all in the story as well as some new residents of the area. It makes everything feel so cozy and with the beachy setting, someplace I really want to be. The relationships from the first book are flowing right through the second, taking the backburner, but still there. Em and Boone are in and out from their home and making big plans and Samantha is continuing her issues at work and fending off Cora Jane’s matchmaking efforts.

While Em and Boone had a past to reconnect them, there isn’t that with Gabi and Wade and they’re starting off at a really stressful time in any woman’s life, more so with Gabi. Much of the story felt like a blend of women’s lit and light romance, with the focus on the sisters and Gabi trying to figure out what she wanted for herself. It ended up being a minor thing, but I thought it was odd that the minutiae of pregnancy was almost never addressed: there were reasons things like setting up a nursery wasn’t a big topic, but there were no real trips to the OB-Gyn, morning sickness or talk about weight gain and the usual aches and pains beyond some superficial comments. I mean, this is a pregnancy.

It took me a little longer to warm up to Gabi than Em, but she’s a much less emotional character and it shows in her relationship with Wade. Their romance in the story is more of a courtship than a full-fledged relationship, since Gabi has so much to work out and as it turns out, so does Wade. He’s very sure of himself and I loved that about him, but he was a little too perfectly astute sometimes. I wanted him to be completely wrong about something and have to grovel, just to shake things up and bring some real, wild passion into the story. There’s nothing wrong with a strictly PG romance, but I was hoping for some Tabasco as a reward for the long journey I’d taken with Gabi.

As with Gabi’s story in Em’s book, there’s a lot of foreshadowing about Samantha’s story in this one and I can’t wait to get to it. I know Gabi and Wade’s romance will continue to blossom in it too, so even if I won’t get anything more than some heated kisses for them, at least I’ll get to watch them continue to have a satisfying future unfold.

My Rating: B+

June 3rd, I’ll have my review for the final book in the series, Sea Glass Island, along with a giveaway for two paperback sets of the entire Ocean Breeze series by Sherryl Woods, courtesy of Harlequin MIRA.

About Sherryl Woods

With two other careers to her credit before becoming a novelist and four states in which she’s lived for extended periods of time, Sherryl Woods has collected friends and memories, along with way too much unnecessary junk.

“The friends are the only things I’ve brought with me through the years that really matter,” she says. “I could probably live without one more chintz teacup, another tin-litho sandpail or another snowglobe, but I need those friends.”

Author of more than 100 romance and mystery novels, Sherryl Woods grew up in Virginia. Over the years she had lived in Ohio and Florida, as well as California. Currently she divides her time between Key Biscayne, Florida and Colonial Beach, Virginia, the small, river-front town where she spent her childhood summers.

A graduate of Ohio State University School of Journalism, Sherryl spent more than ten years as a journalist, most of them as a television critic for newspapers in Ohio and Florida. For several years she also coordinated a motivational program for the more than 8,000 employees at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

Her first book, RESTORING LOVE, was published in 1982 by Dell Candlelight Ecstasy under the pseudonym of Suzanne Sherrill. Her second book, SAND CASTLES, under the pseudonym of Alexandra Kirk, was published later that same year by Bantam. She began using her own name when she moved to the Second Chance at Love line at Berkley Publishing. In 1986, she began writing full-time and also began her long career at Silhouette Books with the Desire title NOT AT EIGHT, DARLING, set in the world of television which she covered for so many years.

In addition to her more than 75 romances for Silhouette Desire and Special Edition, she has written thirteen mysteries — nine in the Amanda Roberts series and four in the Molly DeWitt series.

When she’s not writing or reading, Sherryl loves to garden, though she’s not at her best on a riding lawn mower. She also loves tennis, theater, and ballet, even though her top spin has long since vanished, she’s never set foot on a stage, and she’s way too uncoordinated to dance. She also loves baseball and claims anyone who’s ever seen Kevin Costner in “Bull Durham” can understand why.

Biography courtesy of SherrylWoods.com

Filed Under: *B Rating, Barbara Recommends, Contemporary/Romance Tagged With: Sherryl Woods

Review: Blood and Snow: The Complete Set (Blood and Snow #1-12)

April 25, 2013 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 5 Comments

By RaShelle Workman
Publication Date: 2013
Genre: YA Paranormal
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
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Every thousand years the Vampire Queen selects a new body, always the fairest in the land, and this time she’s chosen Snow White.

Snow isn’t an ordinary girl. She doesn’t know that yet.

When Snow gets bitten by a Hunter, her life is thrown into a whirlwind of change where instead of worrying about what to eat, she has to fight not to drink the blood of fellow high school students. She becomes a revenant – not quite human, not quite vampire.

With the help of an eccentric old Professor, his seven adoptive sons, and her best friend, Snow learns to control her blood craving. Sort of. She drinks a bloodlust tea, but she’d rather drink from her Hunter.

Or, a human.

She also discovers a whole other realm, one filled with fairies, dragons, and magic. And not only does the Vampire Queen want her, but there’s a pendant called the Seal of Gabriel created for Snow by the Vampire Queen’s twin sister. And Snow’s supposed to use it to restore balance to all magical creatures. Including vampires.

Goodreads Summary

I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but ignore the pretty girl in the pretty poofy dress on the cover – this is not that Snow White. It’s not even the kind of twisty story from the synopsis – it’s something more YA and more twisty with more fantasy, more blood and a houseful of hormonal boys overseen by a guy with a nickname that sounds like cereal. Yeah, it’s pretty good.

This Snow White is a klutzy tomboy whose Disney-obsessed step-mother keeps her dad away from home on long trips. Fortunately, Professor Pops, the nice guy in the mansion next door steps in to take their place, along with all seven of his adopted sons who have varying degrees of crushes on the oblivious Snow.

Before her sixteenth birthday, Snow learns that she was marked by a Hunter of the Vampire Queen Sharra to be one of her potential body donors. Fortunately, Professor Pops knows all about this stuff – that she needs to be on guard, watch out for Hunters and definitely not get bitten and changed. Poor Snow doesn’t do much of what she’s told (or what’s suggested to her), and she ends up as a revenant, a half-human, half-vampire, courtesy of a Hunter she can’t stay away from.

The mythology is a big patchwork of ideas that was probably perfect to take in as the story was originally published, in twelve separate novellas. Even though this is the all-in-one collection, it’s still basically the same thing with the title and cover separations and it was easy for me to take a mini-break in between each one to recharge. There were the usual Snow White themes of true love releasing her from her endless sleep, the evil queen wanting her for her perfection and a Huntsman’s betrayal, though each one had a different YA angle. Snow didn’t know what true love was and which boy she had it with, even though I sprained my arm patting myself on the back because I knew. Nyah, nyah and all that.

Nearly everything else was sort of mythology soup-ish. There were fairies, dragons, unicorns, trolls, talismans, witches and a lot of things with Disney names. I never knew what was going to happen from section to section and was worried how Workman was going to make it all transition, but it did, and it built to an exciting end. I may have known who Snow White’s true love was, but I had absolutely no idea how that was going to save anyone or how other unrelated things were going to ever be resolved.

I really loved Snow White – and it feels so weird writing that, since I’m not reviewing a children’s book. Even though her story book counterpart was all about her beauty, this Snow certainly wasn’t. She saw the beauty in others but if you asked her what she saw in the mirror, she’d say a gawky klutz with dark hair and blue eyes and that’d be it. She had a giant and brave heart, never wanting to hurt anyone with what she was yet willing to expose herself to condemnation for it at the same time. Even while I wanted to smack her for always running off alone when she had a houseful of guys who wanted to help her, I admired her for sticking to her convictions and not involving them in things she didn’t think they belonged in.

With so much story and Snow, the Huntsman, Professor Pops, the Vampire Queen and more, there really wasn’t room for all seven brothers except for Gabe and Dorian, two that had special places in Snow’s life. I’ll say it – Gabe bugged the crap out of me. He ran hot and cold with Snow, even while she had such sweet affection for him. He just disappointed me. Dorian was so cute, always there for her in such a dorky, sweet way. I loved how he was always trying to get Snow to bite him. Snow’s friend Cin is getting her own spin-off apparently – she’s a witch and I felt a little meh about her character. She was rarely around when things were normal with Snow and later, she seemed to be around only for other reasons.

I thought this was imaginative and engaging and I really loved the main characters. Workman kept me reading even when the story got a little too twisted and I had to do a quick reread to straighten out what was going on. The little nods to the traditional story were fun and even the Disney names seemed sly rather than corny and made me giggle. I was happy with the way things ended and had a big smile on my face at the romance of it.

My Rating: B+