CURVES FOR HER ROCK STAR

CURVES FOR HER ROCK STAR                   STACEY R. SUMMERS
Posted:  May 12, 2014

Curves For Her Rock Star by Stacey R Summers Years after letting all her dreams sail off into the wind, Rose has found herself stuck living a mundane life of which she has no hope of ever escaping. Her only solace is knowing that her rock star best friend, Blake who she has always secretly loved, is no longer tied to a relationship with her roommate. 

When Blake returns from a six month tour around the country, Rose learns that maybe all her dreams haven’t been lost. 

Part 1 of 3 
BBW Romance
11500+ words

MY REVIEW:
     Rose goes to Booker’s Music Hall, in Riverside.  A rocker club bar in her hometown where her best friend since forever “Blake Hunter” and his band just happen to be playing tonight. 
     As she walks in she knows like every other place she goes into she stands out.  Tonight is exceptionally worse since she came straight from work where she works in an office.  Her outfit reflects that.  She walks up to the bar and finds a seat, the bartender makes his way to her and gruffly ask what she wants never smiling or making really any eye contact.  Not the first time, like you can get fat looking or talking to me.  She orders a beer that they are none for even though she really doesn’t drink beer but she wants to see what all the fuss is all about.  She tips him $5 and he doesn’t ever say thank you or smile.  She gives him some slack thinking he’s having a bad day since it is so busy.  Yet, within minutes she sees him smiling and flirting with a cute, skinny, blond.
     Blake performs his set and she is not quite finished with her beer but she sees all of the band and Blake heading for the back so she turns to the bar gathers herself and gets ready to head out when she hears a low baritone voice say hey to her and the chills run wild within her.  Blake has always been her one and only love but he has never know that at all.  We have just been the best of friends that over the last five years have had some strains due to him dating my roommate.  When they broke up it made it even harder on me to know what to do and how to handle our relationship.  His being out touring made things easier though. 
     We sit and chat and then he mentions how he hates to sleep alone and she mentions how she could take care of that for him and he says okay.  They leave together.  See if the way of sleeping is the same for both of them and see if they make it turn in to more. 
     I really enjoyed the writings of this author.  I know some people were upset with the missing words and editing problems but I think it has to do with the way this book has been down loading.  I know that every other page I would have to get out of the book and then get back in to see the completed sentence so the sentence wasn’t missing it was the way the kindle was working when downloaded. I give this 4 stars. 

ALWAYS UNIQUE

ALWAYS UNIQUE                                             NIKKI TURNER
Posted:  May 12, 2014

Always Unique I: With only two hundred dollars, Unique packed her suitcase and headed to New York City for a brand new start. It’s there that Unique meets big time boxing promoter, Kennard, and it is love at first sight. After nine months of living in the lap of luxury with Kennard, skeletons from Unique’s past show up and it will cost her a cool million dollars to not only keep her relationship but her life. Unique isn’t about to lose it all. With the help of her best friend, she devises a major heist, to pull it off all she has to do is stay alive. II: Living the life she has always dreamed of, Unique isn't about to let her past ruin her future with her fiancĂ©, Kennard. But the tables are turned on her and Unique is fighting for her very life. As for Kennard, he is stunned to learn about her past, but more importantly he is not about to let anyone get away with hurting his woman. As Unique and her best friend, Teeydah, set out on a path of revenge, a new menace and a new betrayal rises.III: The blade of revenge cuts both ways. However, that is not going to stop Unique from getting those who are out to get her. And she is determined to be the last woman standing . . . Always Unique gathers together three popular Unique novellas from the New York Times bestselling, African-American powerhouse author Nikki Turner.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This story is about a woman named Unique, who grew up rough having to fight for everything that she got only to be sold by her boyfriend at the time to a cartel in Mexico. When she makes it back to the U.S. she is arrested and put in prison for a few years. While in prison she makes one friend her name is Teeydah, she is her friend for life. When she is released she makes her way to New York, and after a short time there she is at a party where she meets Kennard, a big time boxer promoter. He falls for her at first sight and brings her home and says she can live there. When a TV show is aired that shows Unique and where she now lives. Old enemies come into New York to make her pay for past sins. Never having telling Kennard, she and Teeydah are the ones that take care of business, until she ends up in the hospital. I am sure there will be some people that will think this story is not possible, but it is. Especially the friend from prison. Having worked in prisons for over 25 years some people make one friend and they have each other’s back and it is not just words. This book will make sense if you are from the streets and worked your way out, the struggle and fight. If not from the streets you will probably not get this book. The characters are all very strong and each one has depth to them. I liked this book. I got this book from net galley.

ON SUNSET BEACH

ON SUNSET BEACH                                       MARIAH STEWART
Posted:  May 12, 2014

On Sunset Beach (Chesapeake Diaries, #8) From New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes a captivating and heartwarming new novel in her beloved Chesapeake Diaries contemporary romance series—perfect for fans of Barbara Freethy, Robyn Carr, and Susan Mallery.

Carly Summit’s name couldn’t be more fitting, since in life she always lands on top. She grew up wealthy and privileged in a tony Connecticut town, opened her own gallery in New York City, and is about to make art world history displaying previously unknown works by a prominent twentieth-century painter. No wonder she possesses a can-do attitude that can’t be soured. Ford Sinclair is another story. A military career in war-torn Africa, where he witnessed unspeakable violence and suffering, has left him haunted and deeply cynical. Now he’s looking for a way to forget and a place to belong. He hopes to find both back home in St. Dennis.

When Carly is forced to move the premiere of her new exhibition from Manhattan to St. Dennis, and Ford agrees to take charge of the town’s only newspaper, the two cross paths. But it’s hardly the start of a beautiful friendship. While Ford can’t ignore her charms, Carly’s unflappable good cheer only confounds him. Yet beneath Ford’s stormy brooding, Carly sees a man worth caring about—even if her warmest ways can’t thaw his frozen heart. But when a scandal suddenly threatens to destroy Carly’s career, Ford finds himself fighting hard for her—and falling for her even harder.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This book takes you back to St. Dennis. Finale Ford Sinclair, the youngest son comes homes and he is not talking as much as his mother would like, but she is happy he is back home. The other new person to the story is Carly Summit, an art gallery owner in New York and some other ones around the globe. Is now looking at opening a gallery in St. Dennis, for a local 20th century artist that she is wanting to show the art world. Both of these young people have issues that they are trying to overcome but they are attracted to each other. For Ford who is cynical over the violence and suffering that he had seen in Africa. She turns out to be the only person that he opens up to. I liked this book very much because it seemed more focused to the town and to the main charters. Also got to find out back story to the Dennis family which was nice. There were some funny parts and parts where they are going out in the river kayaking which I don’t remember in the other stories. A good story all around. I got this book from net galley.

BROTHERS FOREVER

BROTHERS FOREVER                             TOM MANION & TOM SILEO 
Posted:  May 12, 2014

Brothers Forever: The Enduring Bond between a Marine and a Navy SEAL that Transcended Their Ultimate SacrificeFour weeks after Navy SEALs had killed Osama bin Laden, President Obama stood in Arlington National Cemetery to deliver his Memorial Day address. He extolled the heroism and sacrifice of the two men buried side by side in the graves before him: Travis Manion, a fallen US Marine, and Brendan Looney, a fallen US Navy SEAL. Although they were killed three years apart, one in Iraq and one in
Afghanistan, these two former roommates and best friends were now buried together—“brothers forever.”

Award-winning journalist Tom Sileo and Travis’s father, Marine Colonel Tom Manion (Ret.), tell the intimate and personal story of how these Naval Academy roommates defined a generation’s sacrifice after 9/11, and how Travis and Brendan's loved ones overcame heartbreak to carry on in their memory. From Travis’s incredible heroism on the streets of Fallujah to Brendan’s anguished Navy SEAL training in the wake of his friend’s death and acts of heroism in the mountains of Afghanistan, Brothers Forever is a remarkable story of friendship, family, and war.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:

The way I feel about this book is that I don’t think any review will give it the full and true meaning of sacrifice, duty, honor that not only these young men had and their families, but also all of the lives they have touched. Both of these men Travis Manion and Brendon Looney, got to know each other as roommates at Annapolis (Navy Academy). From the book you find out that once they meet they would have a lifelong bound and that their families would be involved as well. Upon graduation Travis follows his father’s path and goes into the Marines. Brendon stays Navy and is assigned to Navy intelligence, after training he is sent to various posts around the world. Travis ends up going on his first tour to Fallujah. They stay in touch through e mails and Brendon’s girlfriend. It is during this time that Brendon puts in for Navy Seal training, his only drawback is being colorblind but he is working out ways to overcome that. Being home less than a year Travis is sent back to Fallujah for his second tour in 2007, one of the most deadly year for our service men and women. About half way through his tour he goes in with the team because one of the other Lt. is sick. This is no second guessing all need to be alert that is what he is looking at. Now this battle scene the way the roads and buildings are and the description of the action is exceptional. The author describes looking for someone like looking for someone wearing a NY cap in Yankee Stadium. You cannot get it explained any better. When they come under fire and start getting hit you feel like you are right there. The first soldier was the Navy medic and it made me think about our friend who we had just scene, Travis goes out and pulls him to safety, the man hit is corporal Segel. Both Albino the Navy core men (Doc), and Segel would live. When the other team got there to engage the enemy retreaded. When they found Travis he was down to firing his 9mm after using all of his other ammo. Rushing back to base and into the O. R. the doctor stopped working on him. When the commander got to the hospital nurses were in the hallway crying along with grown men, his team came through to pay their last respects and then news spread through camp and 1st Recon Battalion, Travis permanent unit started filling through. The emotions for the next few chapters are hard to describe. Brandon could not make it to the funeral because he was starting Seal training. He passes that and the rest of the training and is assigned to team 3. He gets married a few days he is to be deployed to Afghanistan. He even gave Travis’s mom his pin from graduation. Brandon was on 58 mission in contact with the enemy on just every one of them. On his last one before going home the chopper he was in with part of his team and some members of 101st airborne were shot down. What always gets me about a Navy Seals passing is the pounding of their Trident onto the top of the casket and his had over 50. As in school so to in passing Travis and Brandon are buried next to one another at Arlington. There is no way I can tell you how emotional this book was for me. This is a very good story about young men of this generation who are turning into the new greatest generation. Take the time and read this story. I got this book from net galley.

HERE COMES THE NIGHT

HERE COMES THE NIGHT                             JOEL SELVIN
Posted:  May 12, 2014

Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues Here Comes the Night is both a definitive account of the golden age of rhythm and blues of the early ’60s and the harrowing, ultimately tragic story of songwriter and record producer Bert Berns, whose meteoric career was fueled by his pending doom. His heart damaged by rheumatic fever as a youth, Berns was not expected to live to see 21. Although his name is little remembered today, Berns worked alongside all the greats of the era—Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, Burt Bacharach, Phil Spector, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, anyone who was anyone in New York rhythm and blues. In seven quick years, he went from nobody to the top of the pops—producer of monumental r&b classics, songwriter of “Twist and Shout,” “My Girl Sloopy,” “Piece of My Heart,” and others.

His fury to succeed led Berns to use his Mafia associations to muscle Atlantic Records out of their partnership and intimidate new talents like Neil Diamond and Van Morrison, whom he had signed to his record label. Berns died at age 38 from a long-expected heart attack, just when he was seeing his grandest plans and life’s ambitions frustrated and foiled.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This book is more than a book about a song writer, producer and singer. It is also about the history of R&B and from mostly Atlantic Records. I had never heard the name Bert Berns, but I had heard the song titles, “Twist & Shout”, “My Girl Sloopy”, “Piece of my Heart”, “Baby I’m Yours”, Everybody needs somebody to love”, “25 miles”, and produced “Brown eyed girl” by Van Morrison. Also produced Neil Diamond. When he first started working at Atlantic he was working with Ruth Brown and Big Joe Turner. He then started working with Wilson Pickett and Patti LaBelle & the Bluebells, along with other artists. This was also the time he began working with the Isley Bros. the book also takes you behind the group the Drifters and how that manger forced them into a working contract. I now know why many of those guys left once their contract was up. And you find out about a writing time by the name of Leiber & Stroller. But like everything else that happen at Atlantic records once they lost Ray Charles, they could not keep up with the bigger record companies. Wexler who at this point was running the show by now was losing just about everyone. Berns leaves and this is where he finds Diamond and a band from Belfast named “THEM”, this is when Berns heard Morrison and knew their contract was up with Decca. And produces his first record. By this time Berns is also running the streets of New York, with Pasty Pagano and Tommy Eboli, both part of the Genovese family. Let’s just say that he has no problem collecting money owed to him. Berns passes away in 67 asleep in his apartment and some people say R&B died with him. Don’t know but I do know the music was changing and he would have been right there. He had also work on some Cuban records so he was really a forward thinker when it came to music. Here is something to think about in 7 years he had 51 chart singles and 19 in 1964 the year of the British invasion. A very good book. I got this book from net galley.

THE BOMBERS AND THE BOMBED

THE BOMBERS AND THE BOMBED             RICHARD OVERY
Posted:  May 12, 2014

The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945 The ultimate history of the Allied bombing campaigns in World War II

Technology shapes the nature of all wars, and the Second World War hinged on a most unpredictable weapon: the bomb. Day and night, Britain and the United States unleashed massive fleets of bombers to kill and terrorize occupied Europe, destroying its cities. The grisly consequences call into question how “moral” a war the Allies fought.

The Bombers and the Bombed radically overhauls our understanding of World War II. It pairs the story of the civilian front line in the Allied air war alongside the political context that shaped their strategic bombing campaigns, examining the responses to bombing and being bombed with renewed clarity.

The first book to examine seriously not only the well-known attacks on Dresden and Hamburg but also the significance of the firebombing on other fronts, including Italy, where the crisis was far more severe than anything experienced in Germany, this is Richard Overy’s finest work yet. It is a rich reminder of the terrible military, technological, and ethical issues that relentlessly drove all the war’s participants into an abyss.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
In this book there are parts of it that are very interesting and there are other parts for me that were difficult to get through. There is so much information that at times you feel like there is too much. Most of the information is about the towns or cities that were bombed in Europe during WWII. There is also information about the blitz on Britain by Germany. Britain then set out and bomb Bulgaria multiple times for their alliance with Germany like they had in WWI. Thinking that bombing towns and then the capitol would win over the people it did not. It made them think that Britain were evil. By the time the U.S. came into the war the English were still in charge of the missions even though we had the most planes and pilots. Instead of attacking factories they continued to bomb towns. Killing and displacing thousands of people. There were times in the end of 45 and in 44 that they started bombing factories and train yards so they could not deliver goods. There was a consent bickering between Harris of England and Doolittle of the U.S. Doolittle thought it was wrong targeting civilian populations. This came to a head in February of 45 when a town (Pfozhiem), was bomb and 83% of the town was destroyed and 17,600 were killed. The third highest in European bombing. After this the press in England and the U.S. were after the leaders. Churchill and Roosevelt, here in the states they were able to contain the story. In England they had a harder time and eventually Churchill had Portal, notify all chief of staffs to stop with the bombing. On April 14 & 15 Potsdam was bomb. This was a Harris thing he just like the power to bomb. There is also a chapter of Italy being bomb for only a month less than Germany was bomb. As many Italians were killed from bombing as did the Britain’s during the blitz. The damage to Italy’s ancient heritage filled two volumes when investigated after the war. There is a chapter at the end of the book that talks about the effectiveness of the bombing. One of the Germans Generals Goring, “said that when the factories were destroyed it had more of an effect on us in the field”. The author shows documents that prove that point. Like I said at the beginning parts of this book was good and other parts were long. The author did spend a long time researching the information and he backs up his points with charts from the Second World War. If you like history your kind of book. I got this book from net galley.

MARCH 1939 BEFORE THE MADNESS

MARCH 1939 BEFORE THE MADNESS         TERRY FREI
Posted:  May 12, 2014

March 1939: Before the Madness: The Story of the First NCAA Basketball Tournament Champions In 1939, the Oregon Webfoots, coached by the visionary Howard Hobson, stormed through the first NCAA basketball tournament, which was viewed as a risky coast-to-coast undertaking and perhaps only a one-year experiment. Seventy-five years later, following the tournament s evolution into a national obsession, the first champions are still celebrated as The Tall Firs. They indeed had astounding height along the front line, but with a pair of racehorse guards who had grown up across the street from each other in a historic Oregon fishing town, they also played a revolutionarily fast-paced game. Author Terry Frei s track record as a narrative historian in such books as the acclaimed Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming, plus a personal connection as an Oregon native whose father coached football at the University of Oregon for seventeen seasons, makes him uniquely qualified to tell this story of the first tournament and the first champions, in the context of their times. Plus, Frei long has been a fan of Clair Bee, the Long Island University coach who later in life wrote the Chip Hilton Sports Series books, mesmerizing young readers who didn t know the backstory told here. In 1939, the Bee-coached LIU Blackbirds won the NCAA tournament s rival, the national invitation tournament in New York then in only its second year, and still under the conflict-of-interest sponsorship of the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association. Frei assesses both tournaments and, given the myths advanced for many years, his conclusions in many cases are surprising. Both events unfolded in a turbulent month when it was becoming increasingly apparent that Hitler's belligerence would draw Europe and perhaps the world into another war . . . soon. Amid heated debates over the extent to which America should become involved in Europe's affairs this time, the men playing in both tournaments wondered if they might be called on to serve and fight. Of course, as some of the Webfoots would demonstrate in especially notable fashion, the answer was yes. It was a March before the Madness.

HUBBY'S REVIEWS:
A story about the Oregon Webfoot’s winning the first NCAA championship and the fast paced style of basketball the played. Lead by Coach Howard Hobson, who was ahead of the times. By having two guards that were describe as race horses they would run his style of basketball. They grew up across the street from each other and they had been playing the game for a while. The explains how this was supposed to be a one year experiment and now 75 years later it is a national obsession. During this same time the NIT tournament was in its second year and later would be the tournament that coaches wanted to win. The author goes into the history of both and how they changed. He also talks about the events that are happening in Europe and how the events look like another world war may start. A fantastic book and is more than just about the one team. I got this book from net galley.

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