Skip to main content

Posts

Review: Gingko Season by Naomi Xu Elegant

Gingko Season by Naomi Xu Elegant Blurb from Goodreads : After suffering her first big heartbreak two years earlier, Penelope Lin has built a quiet life with no romantic entanglements. She spends her days cataloging a museum’s vast collection of Qing Dynasty bound-foot shoes and in the comfortable company of close friends. One day, she happens to meet Hoang, who confesses to releasing mice from the cancer research lab where he works. Hoang’s openness catches Penelope off guard; from then on, she finds her carefully constructed life slowly start to unravel. Told in Penelope’s witty, vulnerable, and thoroughly endearing voice, Gingko Season captures three seasons of reawakening, challenges, and transformation. This wise and tenderhearted novel explores the nature of our deepest friendships as seriously as it does the dizzying terror and thrill of falling in love, and the complications of trying to live a life that match...
Recent posts

Review: Slaying You (Amber Jamison #2) by Michelle Gagnon

Slaying You (Amber Jamison #2) by  Michelle Gagnon Blurb from Goodreads : A wildly funny thriller about reluctant partners who hit the danger jackpot when they discover that a serial killer is on their heels . . . again. Grace and Amber’s first encounter was anything but ordinary—they bonded over being stalked by the same psychopath. After narrowly escaping that ordeal they went their separate ways, determined to get back to their lives. neither of them is very good at being "normal." Despite their best efforts, they both feel an irresistible pull toward the dark side. So when they reunite for a Vegas wedding and discover that an even more dangerous killer is targeting their friends, it’s time to get the gang back together. Grace and Amber have outrun a murderer before . . . but can they do it again?   I absolutely loved the first book i...

Review: 32 Days in May by Betty Corrello

32 Days in May by Betty Corrello Blurb from Goodreads : Nadia Fabiola wants to lose herself in Evergreen—the Jersey Shore town where she grew up vacationing with her family—and never look back at her glamorous, gainfully employed former self. After a shocking lupus diagnosis turned her life upside down, she’s desperate for a sense of control over her body, her life, and her mental health. Nadia plans on keeping her life small and boring, while continuing to ignore her sister’s relentless questioning. Nadia’s sister isn’t the only person worried about her. When her rheumatologist not-so-subtly sets her up with his infamous former-actor cousin, Marco Antoniou, Nadia is skeptical. But Marco is gorgeous—despite carrying his own baggage from a very public burnout. After a messy (but fun) first date, they decide that a May-long fling could be just what the doctor no commitment, no strings, just one month of escape. Their undeni...

Audiobook Review: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Jessica Guerrieri, Narrated by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea  by Jessica Guerrieri,  Narrated by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw Blurb from Goodreads : Leah O'Connor is torn between the life she's currently living and the allure of a phantom life that can no longer be hers. Swept off her feet by the gentle charm of Lucas O'Connor, Leah's unexpected pregnancy changes the course of her carefree and nomadic existence. Over a decade and three children later, Leah is unraveling. She resents the world in which her artistic aspirations have been sidelined by the overwhelming demands of motherhood, and the ever-present rift between herself and her mother-in-law, Christine, is best dulled by increasingly fuller glasses of wine. Christine represents a model of selfless motherhood that Leah can neither achieve nor accept. To heighten the strain, Lucas's business venture, a...

Audiobook Review: Parents’ Weekend by Alex Finlay, Narrated by Brittany Pressley

 Parents’ Weekend by Alex Finlay,  Narrated by Brittany Pressley Blurb from Goodreads : In the glow of their children’s exciting first year of college at a small private school in Northern California, five families plan on a night of dinner and cocktails for the opening festivities of Parents Weekend. As the parents stay out way past their bedtimes, their kids—five residents of Campisi Hall—never show up at dinner. At first, everyone thinks that they’re just being college students, irresponsibly forgetting about the gathering or skipping out to go to a party. But as the hours click by and another night falls with not so much as a text from the students, panic ensues. Soon, the campus police call in reinforcements. Search parties are formed. Reporters swarm the small enclave. Rumors swirl and questions arise. Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and S...

Review: Shopgirls by Jessica Anya Blau

Shopgirls by Jessica Anya Blau Blurb from Goodreads : Nineteen-year-old Zippy can hardly believe she’s the newest and youngest salesgirl at I. Magnin, “San Francisco’s Finest Department Store.” Every week, she rotates her three spruced-up Salvation Army outfits and Vaseline-shined pumps; still, she’s thrilled to walk those pumps through the employee entrance five days a week as she saves to buy something new. For a girl who grew up in a one-bedroom apartment above a liquor store with her mother and her mother’s madcap boyfriend, Howard; a girl who wanted to go to college but had no help in figuring out how; I. Magnin represents a real chance for a better and more elegant life. Or, at the very least, a more interesting one. Zippy may not be in school, but she’s about to get an education that will stick with her for decades. Her fellow salesgirls (lif...

Review: Set Piece by Lana Schwartz

Set Piece by Lana Schwartz Blurb from Goodreads : A chance encounter leaves a breakout TV star and no-nonsense bartender wanting more, but life gets in the way. They find each other again five years later, while working on a movie set—but is there room in their lives for this second chance at romance? Even one year ago, no one would have recognized Jack Felgate at a bar. But after his steamy breakout TV role, he's surprised to be swarmed by fans during a night out with friends. When the practical bartender CJ intervenes to fend off his admirers, he's grateful—and more than a little eager to stick around for an after-hours drink–turned–tryst. Five years later, Jack shows up to set for his starring role in (yet another?!) adaptation of The Great Gatsby only to find CJ is the film’s production designer. But neither of them is the same person they were back CJ is a single mom with a four-year-old, and Jack is a bon...