I loved this story of two women thrown together by tragedy.
When Joanna’s ex husband Cliff is killed in a car crash with a young woman in his car her life is turned upside down.
After large amounts of soul searching Johanna goes to visit the young woman. Joanna and Ashley decide to stick together and an unlikely bond begins to form between them.
They end up at Johanna’s secluded beach house that she hasn’t been to for decades. The small town welcomes her despite her fears and both women heal and find hope.
Joanna slowly reconnects to the town and the friends she thought were only memories, and realizes she can start over here if she wants.
Ashley starts to see a future where she has only seen loss. Slowly a future she looks forward to emerges.
This story has so many things that I love. Friendship, hope, fresh starts and surprises along the way.
A perfect read for the beach, the pool, or to binge read. I was sorry to leave as I read the last page.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy.
I adored this story and all the holiday magic that was mixed into the story. The story takes place over longer than the holiday season, but the story incorporates the holiday season in special ways.
Sonny Dunes is a meteorologist in Palm Springs when life throws her a curb ball and she ends up back in her home town of Michigan buried in so many things she left behind.
Sonny goes from the top of the pile to the bottom and as she tries to work her way back up the ladder things seem to backfire on her. Her college pal Lisa, who is also her station manager, helps, but the true friends she finds along the way, Icicle and Mason, help her see her life and her future in ways that are different than she ever imagined.
Sonny’s Mom puts her own unique spin on Sonny’s past and presents it in the way only a mother can. Cheering, jeering and telling it like it is as the novel takes Sonny to places she never wanted to see again and some she never imagined.
I loved this story about women and how our lives shape us and give us the power to transform ourselves. Often the answers are right there in front of us, but we are so caught up in things that we don’t see them.
My favorite part of the novel was watching Sonny face her past and start to form real relationships with the other characters. She is more honest than she’s been in years with her Mom. She and Lisa discuss their college years and Icicle claims a special place in her heart as well. Even her agent notices a difference as time goes on.
The magic of the weather and snow are wonderful setting that show off these characters and helps them shine even more.
I wanted to curl up on my sofa with a blanket and cup of cocoa and watch the newscast with these characters. I’d love to have them over to bake cookies or go carrolling or sleading. They made their way into my heart and will be there for quite a while. I am so glad to have met them and I can’t help hoping that one of them might be someone I run into in the future.
This book is a magical story about the family you are born with, the one you make and the power of love, both the love you share with others and loving yourself enough to accept your faults and forge ahead.
Add this book to your winter reading pile. It is perfect for a winter’s day.
The Grace Kelly Dress was impossible to put down. I read it in an afternoon even though I really did try to slow down and savor it. I failed. I loved this story. It is the story of a dress and the women whose lives it touches. We see the dress from the view Rose who creates the dress first on paper and then with fabric. We also see the lives of the women who wear it and how the magic of the dress touches each of them. I adored this story that is filled with strong women in different times and the magic of a special dress. I also loved the way the women in each generation were so different and the honest way that was shown in the story. TGKD excerpt – Blog Tour (1)
I loved the way this story weaves the past and the future together so well. Reve returns to Massachusetts following the suspicious death of her husband Jeremy. She settles into a home on family land and tries to start over with her three daughters but life keeps getting in her way. If she wants to understand her future she must understand her past as so begins her journey into her family history and the secrets it holds. The story flows well and it kept me guessing and eagerly turning pages.
Wyn leaves Magnolia Creek Alabama when her mother dies and does not plan on coming back, but years later when her brother Patrick is imprisoned for a crime he did not commit she returns to care for Byrd, her niece who has lost both her parents, and to clear her brother’s name. As you would expect the truth is never easy to see or easy to take and Wyn has her share of ups and downs as she tries to reconcile the place that Magnolia Creek is now with the home she remembers, and if reconciling the town wasn’t hard enough the people are even harder. The more Wyn looks into the past for answers to try to free Patrick the more she learns about herself and her place in the world. I loved the characters and the family dynamics of this novel. Both of Wyn’s parents are obsessed in their own ways, and only as an adult can she begin to accept them for who they are. The dynamic is this book are wonderful, the town comes alive in your mind and I was sad to leave it when I had read the last page. This is a story of family, of love, and betrayal, laced with magic and hope. A great summer read.
This short story collection masterfully weaves folk lore, history and everyday life together into stories that are mystical, lyrical and haunting. The stories are varied, except for the first and the last which are about the deaths of two women a mother and her daughter many years apart. I am not always a fan of short story collections, but these will stay with me in the back of my mind for a bit like all good characters.
I know I am late in this post, I blame Barnes and Noble in part because it took them over a week past released day to ship my signed copy to my house, yes i nagged them about it and I don’t get why they didn’t just ship them all out on release day since I ordered it back in January, but that’s the way it is. Hopefully they will do a better job with the next Dresden Files book which i also ordered signed and is due out at the end of May. I know you are much more interested in the book than in my saga with Barnes and Noble so here goes. There are unexplained magical waves affecting the Hollows and the greater metro area, odd side effects? The master vamps are all sleeping and as children will do when their parents aren’t around all the vamps act out a bit. Don’t worry David and the pack are doing their best to keep an eye on things, while the normal agencies and Rachel and her gang try to find a cause and a cure. All of our favorite characters are here, Jenks and kids, Ivy and Nina, Trent and Quen and the girls, Newt joins the party, Al and Trent face off, there is so much fun and excitement in this one, I don’t want to give anything away, but i can say that this story is as action packed and gripping as you would expect and things start to shift which sets us up for the final book in the series, which is going to be long wait for this reader, but I am more than sure it will be worth it and bitter sweet.
Books & Life 