The Little Books That Could: List

The Little Books That Could: 
Your List of Coices

Are there books you’ve read that you’ve loved only to be surprised it was given bad reviews?
Then saw it turn around in the ratings later?

What are some?...

Shout Outs: Author's Place

Shout Outs: 
Author’s Place:
Authors introduce yourself-Only 1 new book per month

(Name, pic, short synopsis)
Tell us who you are...

Tista Ray
It is said that people’s lives are tales of two great journeys - the pursuit of happiness and the search for true love.
Edward seems to have achieved one of these ultimate goals by falling in love with Daisy.
But in his quest for true love, will he be willing to let go of his one special friend, and perhaps, sacrifice his chance for happiness?
If there’s a choice between love and friendship, will Edward sacrifice one for the other? Will he be able to live with his choice and never ask himself what if he chose the other? 

It's Your Pick: Valentine Books of Love

It's Your Pick:
Valentine’s makes me want to Read

Holiday Book Call What’s your choice:
What books did you LOVE that others would like during the month of LOVE?
Add your choices...

Can't Stop Lovin' You

FAR GONE

FAR GONE                                                    LAURA GRIFFIN
Posted:  Feb. 11, 2014

Far Gone by Laura Griffin  To save her only brother, Andrea Finch must face down a criminal mastermind, the FBI, and her own demons in this thrilling novel from the author of the bestselling Tracers series.

Police detective Andrea Finch is a rising star in her department until a split-second decision derails her career. Disgraced and disillusioned, she’s on leave from her job when she gets an urgent call from her younger brother. She’d prefer to ignore his latest plea for cash, but this time instinct tells her something is very wrong. Andrea’s search for answers takes her to a dusty Texas border town where danger lurks in plain sight and nothing is quite what it seems.

FBI agent Jon North is working undercover in west Texas investigating an unsolved murder that may be linked to a broader plot. But when the evidence points to Andrea’s brother, Jon finds that persuading the stubborn cop to help will be harder than cracking his toughest case.

Andrea must find a way to do what’s right while protecting her only sibling. As the clock ticks down on a deadly plot, Andrea and Jon race to confront a heartless killer who will stop at nothing to deliver a final, terrifying message.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This book starts off with action from the very beginning. Its lead character is a female police detective who is on administrative leave for shooting a young man who came into a restaurant and wanted to shot his ex-girlfriend. I bring this up because in the story she is always having to go back to this incident for different reasons. She then finds out that her brother dropped out of college and is living on some ranch with someone who is a known criminal. She goes out to the ranch one night doing surveillance and after a couple of hours she goes to try to get closer she is picked up by the FBI for they have been watching the ranch for some time. They don’t want to tell her anything but she continues to be a pain and she and an agent by the name of John North become friends and start to work together. The problem with that is she does not really trust anyone and she does not think anybody is really looking at her brother as maybe a victim. The FBI agent is after the guy who owns the ranch for a couple of bombings but he does not have enough proof. This is an exciting story and one that really is believable. When she finally trusts some things start to happen. So it is a good story about you can’t do things alone and sometimes you have to ask for help and then you need to let your family members fix their own problems that they got themselves into. A good story. I got this book from net galley.

DREAMING OF DAYTON

DREAMING OF DAYTON                         CAROLYNN CAREY
Posted:  Feb. 11, 2014

Dreaming of Dayton by Carolynn Carey  This is a sweet romance. Jill Taylor has had a crush on her best friend’s uncle, Chicagoan Dayton Vance, since she was a teenager. Unfortunately, Dayton insists that Jill is too young for him even though only six years separate them. Finally, having given up on Dayton, Jill closes her Atlanta counseling practice to follow her friend Megan to Barbourville, Tennessee, where she opens Jill’s Soup Bowl in a renovated Victorian house. Jill is contentedly settling into small-town life when Dayton’s appearance on her front porch disrupts her peace and has her questioning her real reasons for moving to Barbourville. Attorney Dayton Vance, one of triplets, was born a few minutes before either of his brothers, Dallas and Denver, and he’s always felt responsible for both of them, along with his niece Megan. When those three end up living in Barbourville—a move Dayton considers ill advised—he wonders where he’s gone wrong. Because Jill Taylor is the only counselor he knows who is acquainted with his entire family, Dayton flies from Chicago to Atlanta to consult her. Horrified when he discovers Jill has moved to Barbourville to open a restaurant, he hunts her down to complain, only to end up in her kitchen the next day peeling potatoes and asking himself how he managed to lose control of his plans so completely. Can the town of Barbourville work its usual magic and help two obstinate people discover that following their dreams will lead them in the right direction, no matter where they live?

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This was a funny love story in that the lead male character is a lawyer from Chicago and is the oldest of triplets. He tries to take full advantage of that. For some reason one day he fills the need to talk to a family friend who is in love with him but was told by him because she was 6 years younger this won’t work. This of course was done when he was 25 and she was 19. She is now or was a therapist in Atlanta and he goes there. She is not there she closed her practice. So he drives to Barbourville Tennessee. When he gets there when he is driving through town he sees her in front of a restaurant sweeping the front. He stops and starts in on way nobody told him she had moved there for his two brothers live in town with their families and were sworn to not tell him that she had moved there. He finds out that she owns the restaurant and then he continues to make matters worse for himself by just talking and not listening. Then the biggest mistake is spending the night at the local B&B so the following morning when he goes back to talk to Jill his family shoes up and reads him the riot act for not letting anyone know he was in town. Dayton Vance continues to make matters worse and yet he actually thinks he is helping. When he finally gets a little bit of courage to let her know that he is in love with her, her mother shows up because she hurt her ankle. She gives him the cold shoulder and not wanting to confront the mother he runs back to Chicago. He is not happy there and starts making plans to move to the town his brothers are in and also looking at building a restaurant he found out that he really enjoyed working in one but he wanted to do things a little different. Jill tired of everything went back to Atlanta for a couple of days to try to move back there. Of course I am not spoiling it they get together but there is a lot that goes on before that. This is a really funny story but one that you get to see even the whole family all get together and work things out and they are there for each other. Also has that small town effect where everyone knows each other and looks out for one another. A very nice story. I got this book from net galley.

COME POUR THE WINE

COME POUR THE WINE                         CYNTHIA FREEMAN
Posted:  Feb. 11, 2014

Come Pour the Wine by Cynthia Freeman  New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Freeman’s powerful tale of a woman in search of her sacred heritage, who must decide how much she is willing to sacrifice for love 

Nineteen-year-old Janet Stevens leaves Wichita, Kansas, for New York—and a glamorous career as a model. Manhattan in the 1950s is a heady place for a sheltered Midwesterner. A new friend helps her discover her forefathers’ faith, but from the moment she sees Bill McNeil at a party, Janet senses she’s found her future. When they marry, she believes she’s finally gotten what she always wanted—not fame or fortune, but the love that will fulfill and sustain her as nothing else ever could.

From the passionate throes of youth to the stings and shocks of middle age, Come Pour the Wine draws a brilliant portrait of a marriage and a family in search of its roots, written with Cynthia Freeman’s trademark insight and compassion.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This story is about a young girl who leaves Kansas, and goes to Manhattan to try to become a fashion model. In the very beginning of the story she is befriended by a Jewish lady in the garment district and they become friends while she also is becoming a model. After a while her friends are selling there store and moving to Florida. She is sad over this and some of her model friends take her to a few parties. At one of these parties she meets a man by the name of Bill McNeil. They get married and after a few months he does not want her working as a model. She becomes pregnant and they have a boy and shortly thereafter they move to the country where Bill is taking the train into the city and after a couple of years they have a daughter. Everything is going along until the son is in high school and the daughter in Jr. High and Bill wants to move back to the city. He wants to move now not wait until the kids are out of school. Then he announces he wants a divorce. He leaves that night. A few weeks go by and they set a meeting and he tells her he does not want to be married, just that. He does not to be married but he does love her and the kids. From there the story is about how they the two children and the mother pick up and move on with their lives. Some of the disagreements you have as a family and the happy times like marriage and birth of a grandchild. The father is around but for the most part seems lonely to me but that is what he wanted. The mom picks up her live and with a friend opens a business and finds out about her past about being Jewish from her father’s grandfather. She also meets a nice man who is a doctor and that plays out as well. This all takes place with sitting on a lounge chair looking back over her life. I won’t tell you how it ends but I thought this was a very good book about family, life, and love. I got this book from net galley.

CAN'T STOP LOVIN' YOU

CAN'T STOP LOVIN' YOU                       LYNNETTE AUSTIN
Posted:  Feb. 11, 2014

Can't Stop Lovin' You by Lynnette AustinShe's the only dream he wants . . . Hometown girl Maggie Sullivan can't wait to get out of Maverick Junction. Designing the wedding gown of the year for her friend-and America's Favorite Heiress-is the break Maggie's been waiting for. But her lifelong dream takes an unexpected turn when she runs into her high school sweetheart-now the town's hotter-than-hot veterinarian. Brawley Odell, country right down to the tips of his cowboy boots, has returned to take over the local animal doctor's practice. But the real reason he's in town is that he's never stopped thinking about the fiery green-eyed beauty who once captured his heart . . .

MY REVIEW:
   Brawley Odell thought he was giving her the world but all he was giving her was a lifetime of hurt, by cutting her loose her senior.  You see Maggie Sullivan and he were boyfriend and girlfriend since Jr. High.  He, Cash and Maggie were also grade school friends so she was always there and he thought she always would be.  But he thought wrong.
     Then came time for him to leave for college and she was a senior in high school. They knew they could make it work him coming home on weekends.  He came home to her one weekend and holidays for as long as he could until this one weekend when he called and said he would come on a Friday night instead.  She prepared and when he got there he didn’t even come in.  At the door he broke up with her, telling her that it was for the best and that his mind was made up.  No amount of talking was going to change his mind and no questions asked his way and no other way about.  Done and over.
     Maggie was a basket case.  Her parents were gone for three days thank goodness so she was able to just cry her eyes out that day.  Cash came over to help her cry it out and get her to eat.  Brawley of all people called her.  She was devastated to say the least.  She cried her tears, hardened her heart, and opened her clothing & design store.  She never went on to design school but she never gave up her dreams of going to New York City.  Brawley on the other hand went on to Dallas after college worked as a Vet for the rich and pampered.  Then comes home once Doc retires and a Vet is need back home.  He didn’t want to push his mentor out.  Plus he really wanted to try and win Maggie back he missed her.
     At this point my thought was really dude?  You dump this chick, you don’t give her a reason, and you don’t come back after college not even after a reasonable amount of time for her to have finished college.  She sees and knows you dated a Dallas cheerleader and such.  You think you can just swoop in?  I don’t think so, I was partly right, Maggie was no push over.  When Cash’s wife Annie wears one of her beautiful dresses she created she was able to begin her dreams of going to New York just a month after Brawley got home.        I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.  The sexual tension, the bantering, friendships, the family saga and country spirit make so worth the read.  But the emotional conflict between Maggie and Brawley and the secret that is between them and once they have to face it on top of the death of a good friend is just heart wrenching.  My only regret is that there was not prologue that was there with all the characters telling you who was who so that people like me who was new to the series knew what was happening with references were made at certain points.

5 stars for sure.  Provided by netgalley.

                                                                      Back to You #1 Hard Crush HARD CRUSH                                  ...