Contemporary
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She’s All That Book Review
About the Book With her two best friends, San Francisco fashion designer Lilly Jacobs is contemplating life, love, and the pursuit of the perfect pedicure. When Lilly Jacobs’s coveted promotion as a designer is given to her less-talented co-worker and her boyfriend develops issues with monogamy, she’s convinced her bad hair is responsible for it all. Will a spa weekend with her Spa Girls help? Or will it take more desperate measures to convince her that love is in the air? My Thoughts While this was not my first experience with a Kristin Billerbeck book, it will forever be one of my favorites by her. Believe it or not, some…
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Julia Monroe Begins Again Book Review
About the Book Julia Monroe has just turned forty and hopes this next decade goes much better than the last, in which she became a young widow raising two children on her own. With both her boys off to college, it’s time for new beginnings, and she can finally focus on expanding her New Orleans-based cleaning business–but God has other plans. Samuel Reed, the ruggedly handsome Green Beret who broke her heart over twenty years ago, has returned to town and is the kind of distraction she never saw coming. After their first interaction in years leaves her mind spinning and her emotions out of control, Julia knows she needs…
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The Place Where You Belong Book Review
About the Book Hallie just might be able to revitalize the town and a heart. Public Relations specialist Hallie Nichols returns home to Village Green, determined to stay just long enough to make living arrangements for her aging mother while avoiding the rejection and painful memories of her past—specifically her ex-boyfriend, banker Trey Gunther. Irked to find Hallie unrepentant for the hurt she caused him ten years ago, Trey dishes a little payback by mandating she meet with him weekly about her mother’s finances. His plan backfires when his old attraction to Hallie flares. He’s the one suffering, and worse, he discovers Hallie may hold the solution to his beloved…
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A Battle Worth Fighting Book Review
A wonderful split time novel that kept me engrossed from start to finish! The modern day story centers around Sahara and a fight to keep her marriage intact. Her road is certainly not an easy one, and her attempts to make her husband notice her seem to fall flat at every turn. But bless him, her husband is a genuine lover of poetry and nature and beauty, and once she realizes that in a newer, deeper way, nothing can stop them. The historic story features Sahara’s ancestor who was brave enough to fight in the Civil War – as a woman soldier! Forgive my naivete, but I genuinely had NO…
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Leave It to Claire Book Review
I really enjoyed this book. Like….REALLY enjoyed this book. While my life has not played out like Claire’s (my husband and I are still married, and we’ve never dealt with the issue of adultery), there were so many ways how Claire and I are a lot alike. We have the same goals, hopes, and dreams that we’ve not made a priority as much as we should have. It was eye-opening to read her perspective (even if it was fictional). I wanted to cry through all the moments where she genuinely struggled to have a kind word to say to her ex-husband. Her heart had been shattered, and their kids were…
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A Wedding Blunder in the Black Hills Book Review
What a charming contemporary romance! I loved the premise of two main characters trying to pretend that they’re dating so their nosy mothers will stop trying to set them up on dates. They’re pretending proved to be futile as they slowly start to develop feelings for one another, and as I furiously turned the pages, I loved every minute of it. This story had a little more depth than most contemporary romances. Millie had a lot of baggage – like A LOT – and believed that she was doomed to continue a family cycle of leaving/quitting/giving up when things got hard. If she had only known the real reasons behind…
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The Keys to Gramercy Park Book Review
Past meets present in this gorgeous split time story set in New York City and written by Candice Sue Patterson. Andrea is just an ordinary waitress, but Beau is on the fast track to a prestigious political career. They meet in the most unlikely of ways, and it doesn’t take long for Andrea to discover that Beau has a coveted key to Gramercy Park. Andrea knows that she is out of Beau’s league, but they need each other to solve a mystery involving his ancestors once Andrea stumbles upon some old counterfeit money in her apartment. Once the history starts bleeding in with the present, we get to see Franklin…
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Sunrise Book Review
OH MY GOODNESS! Where do I begin?! I was so sure that I wasn’t going to like this book. It started off as a very s-l-o-w read for me, and I had a time trying to get all the characters straight. But page by page, the story took shape and once it focused in on Dodge and Echo, I was a goner. I could not get enough! Oh, how I loved seeing them overcome their struggles with forgiveness. They both had major issues from their past that held them down and kept them from truly being free to love one another and members in their families. That message of forgiveness…
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Authentically, Izzy Book Review
About the Book “Dear Izzy—I feel certain there’s a book-loving man living relatively nearby waiting to speak bookish to you ’til death do you part. You just haven’t met yet.” Izzy Edgewood is a wannabe bookstore owner, quote queen, and Lord of the Rings nerd who has been waiting for Prince Charming to sweep her off her sneakered feet. But it’s hard to meet people when you spend more time with fictional humans than real ones. Which is why her pragmatist cousin Josephine decides to take Izzy’s future into her own meddling hands and create an online dating profile for the hopeful romantic. To Izzy’s shock (and suspicion), Josie’s plan…
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Heirlooms Book Review
About the Book Answering a woman’s desperate call for help, young Navy widow Helen Devries opens her Whidbey Island home as a refuge to Choi Eunhee. As they bond over common losses and a delicate, potentially devastating secret, their friendship spans the remainder of their lives. After losing her mother, Cassidy Quinn spent her childhood summers with her gran, Helen, at her farmhouse. Nourished by her grandmother’s love and encouragement, Cassidy discovers a passion that she hopes will bloom into a career. But after Helen passes, Cassidy learns that her home and garden have fallen into serious disrepair. Worse, a looming tax debt threatens her inheritance. Facing the loss of…
