Category: Fiction

Title: Sawbones
Author: Melissa Lenhardt
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Redhook Books
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: March 29, 2016
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Wrongfully accused of murder, Dr. Catherine Bennett is destined to hang… unless she can disappear.

With the untamed territory of Colorado as her most likely refuge, she packs her physician’s kit and heads West. But even with a new life and name, a female doctor with a bounty on her head can hide for only so long.

Sawbones is the first novel in a gripping historical fiction series.

Review:

I was approved for this galley last year, but I just couldn’t get into the story. I’m not a big fan of Westerns, but on my second reading the plot hooked me.

There were twists that I couldn’t have predicted. The twists weren’t even the answers to my questions. There were many surprises, and not all of them good.

Some of the descriptions of injuries and medical procedures are hard to read. I think that’s why I struggled with the book before. However, it added some realism to the story.

I think Catherine was a little ahead of her time in some of her medical ideas. For example, she says she doesn’t think smoking is good for your lungs, but that wouldn’t have been known back then. Her advanced knowledge reminded me a lot of Claire in Outlander. They were both thrown into similar medical positions in a world that is not ready for a female physician.

I enjoyed this book after reading it again. I’m curious to see how this series turns out.

Title: S’more to Lose
Author: Beth Merlin
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Ink Monster LLC
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
Release Date: December 5, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Four years after her life-changing summer, Gigi Goldstein thinks saying goodbye to Camp Chinooka means saying hello to a brand new life. Now faced with a second chance at her career, she is filled with more hope than she’s felt in a long time. Her design house is taking the fashion world by storm, even attracting notice of Victoria Ellicott, the fashionable British socialite who just happens to be engaged to the future king of England. When Gigi is chosen to design the royal wedding dress in London, she is forced to confront her ex-fiancé, Perry Gillman, now a successful composer with a hit show on the West End.

But when Gigi learns Perry’s been dating Victoria’s sister, who rivals her in looks, style and sophistication, Gigi can’t help but feel inadequate in everything. Her world begins to crumble as she develops a creative block so debilitating, she fears that a wedding dress of royal proportions is never going to happen. Even a budding relationship with the handsome, wealthy, and rich Viscount of Satterley can’t make her forget about Perry and her inability to get over him. As the world gears up for the wedding of the century, Gigi is on the brink of buckling under the immense pressure of the uncertainties of her future and failures of her past.

Will she be able overcome her creative paralysis to design the dress of Victoria’s dreams, or will she break down now that she has even s’more to lose?

Review:

I’m so excited to be reviewing this book today! I loved it.

This one is even better than the first book. The characters are more developed and have a of history together. I’m also a little biased because I love everything British, so this story was perfect for me!

The beginning is unexpected since usually in the sequel to a romance, the main couple has gotten together. Though Gigi and Perry were together at the end of One S’more Summer, they have broken up now. I liked this unconventional way to begin a sequel.

I loved the way that the things that have happened in the last four years were told gradually. Everything, including Gigi and Perry’s breakup, was woven into conversations so it didn’t break up the narrative. This was a great way to fill us in on what’s happened in their lives without delaying the story.

I also liked the way things were like real life but slightly different. They talk about Top Designer a lot, which is just like Project Runway. Also Victoria and Prince Alexander are very much like Prince William and Kate. But there was some real pop culture in the story, because Gigi loves Downton Abbey. These little additions were so funny throughout the story.

I loved this story! I can’t wait to see where the story goes in the third book.

About the Author:

Author links:
https://twitter.com/bethmerlin80
http://www.bethmerlin.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bethfmerlin/

Giveaway:
Tour-wide giveaway (INTL)
S’more to Lose Prize Pack

a Rafflecopter giveaway

December 4th
–Smada’s Book Smack >> Guest post
–Booked J >> Review
–Two Ends of the Pen >> Interview
–Lisa Loves Literature >> Review
–Viviana MacKade >> Top 10 List
–Meghan’s Mindless Mutterings: Reviews & Giveaways >> Review

December 5th
–The Eeny Meanie Neen >> Review
–Mythical Books >> Guest post
–To Be Read >> Review

December 6th
–blogs and coffee >> Guest post
–ChickLit Club >> Interview
–The Phantom Paragrapher >> Review
–Rainy Days and Pajamas >> Excerpt

December 7th
–The Avid Reader >> Excerpt
–Jill Jemmett >> Review
–Brittany’s Book Blog >> Excerpt
–Just Books >> Top 10 List

December 8th
–A British Bookworm’s Blog >> Review
–Dreamland Teenage Fantasy >> Review
–Becky on Books >> Interview
–Fiona Reads and FoodSpots >> Review

Thank you to Xpresso Book Tours for letting me participate in this blog tour.

Title: The Rules of Magic
Author: Alice Hoffman
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: October 10, 2017
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.

Review:

I really enjoyed this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a prequel to Practical Magic, but I loved it.

The pacing was good. The beginning was a little slow for me when Franny, Jet, and Vincent were children. But it became more exciting as they grew up.

I liked the way the curse followed them wherever they went. In their teenage ignorance, they didn’t think it would affect them but it did.

Throughout the whole book, I kept looking for hints to the characters in Practical Magic. I loved the way that the magic is passed through the generations of Owens women.

Though the story followed a similar format of Practical Magic, you can definitely read this as a standalone novel. I think I got more out of it since I was familiar with some of the characters in the town, as well as the aunts when they are old and mysterious witches, but the story could be read by itself. Since this is a prequel, I think you could read The Rules of Magic first and then follow the story chronologically.

I really enjoyed this novel, and I will look out for Alice Hoffman in the future.

Title: One S’more Summer
Author: Beth Merlin
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Ink Monster Books, LLC
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
Release Date: May 30, 2017
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Since that first bus ride to Camp Chinooka twenty long years ago, Gigi Goldstein has been pining for her best friend’s guy. She knows her crush is wrong and has to stop, but her heart won’t listen to reason. To escape the agony of their impending wedding, Gigi accepts a summer job at the only place she’s ever been happy.

But working at Chinooka isn’t all campfire songs and toasting marshmallows. Gigi’s girls are determined to make her look bad in front of the boys’ Head Counselor—the sexy but infuriating Perry—and every inch of the campground is laced with memories.

When Gigi realizes she can’t fix the present by hiding in the past, she’s forced to reexamine her choices. Maybe everything she thought she wanted wasn’t what she actually needed… But if she can get her act together, Gigi might have one last shot at the summer love of her dreams.

Review:

This book is a great romantic comedy.

I really liked the way that the plot had many layers. Gigi told her story at camp, while also reflecting on her relationship with Joshua and her career as a designer. There was also drama with her family, so many aspects of life were explored.

The different age groups were represented well. Even though Gigi is 27, she interacts with many teens at camp. So there was a lot of adolescent drama (sneaking off, meeting boys) to go along with Gigi’s own problems.

Though I never went to a camp like this one, the story brought back memories of TV shows and movies I watched when I was a kid. TheParent Trap was one of my favourite movies, and they even reference it in the story.

I loved this book. I’m so excited that I will be reviewing the sequel for a blog tour next week!

Title: Captain America: Sub Rosa
Author: David McDonald
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Joe Books Inc.
Source: NetGalley
Release Date: June 21, 2016
Rating: ★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Frozen in a state of suspended animation since the end of the Second World War, Captain America is a man out of time. But now freed from his frozen slumber, he’s back in the nick of time and ready to face threats that couldn’t have been imagined when the world had last seen him. Joe Books brings Marvel fans an all-new adventure featuring a classic superhero.

Review:

I was approved for this book on NetGalley last year, but that was before I really got into reviewing books. So I have finally gotten around to reviewing it.

There have been many successful novelizations of graphic novels lately, so I was excited to read one of Captain America. I don’t think this story worked as a novel.

There were many action scenes that would have been amazing if they were illustrated. They were quite wordy in this story, and became boring and tedious to read. These should have been a little shorter or less descriptive. That may have made it more entertaining.

There were also a number of proofreading errors that were hard to ignore, including words missing or spelled wrong. This is a simple issue that could have been avoided with careful editing.

My main issue with this story was that nothing happened. Captain America had to just protect a woman, and he had a few fights with the men going after her. I think this was a waste of his talents. He was pretty much a bodyguard, and the story read like the story of a bodyguard. If something else happened, rather than Steve Rogers bringing a woman around to different safe houses, it would have been much better.