Books Reviewed by T @ Traveling With T

Mister Owita’s Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart by Carol Wall

Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening

Photo Credit: Goodreads

This book was sent to Traveling With T in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Mister Owita’s Guide To Gardening

Carol Wall’s yard is a mess. This, in the past has not bothered her. Between raising kids, working, spending time with her husband and doing other things- the yard has not been a priority. One day, though, Carol begins to realize how far the yard has gotten out of control and openly envies other yards. Shortly, she finds out about Mister Owita and he begins to help Carol with her garden. Even though she knows the garden needs work- she is hesitant about some Owita’s advice and preferences (the azaela bushes being one thing). Soon, though, with Owita’s charming way of looking at life- she begins to trust him more and more and open herself to learning- not just gardening tips, but life lessons as well.

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Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

lost lake by sarah addison allen

Photo credit: Goodreads

This book was sent to Traveling With T in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Lost Lake

Suley, Georgia, is home to Lost Lake Cottages and not much else. Which is why it’s the perfect place for newly-widowed Kate and her eccentric eight-year-old daughter Devin to heal. Kate spent one memorable childhood summer at Lost Lake, had her first almost-kiss at Lost Lake, and met a boy named Wes at Lost Lake. It was a place for dreaming. But Kate doesn’t believe in dreams anymore, and her Aunt Eby, Lost Lake’s owner, wants to sell the place and move on. Lost Lake’s magic is gone. As Kate discovers that time has a way of standing still at Lost Lake can she bring the cottages—and her heart—back to life? Because sometimes the things you love have a funny way of turning up again. And sometimes you never even know they were lost . . . until they are found.

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Small Town Spin by LynDee Walker

Small Town Spin by LynDee Walker, A Headlines in Heels Mystery #3

Photo Credit: Henery Press

 

This book was requested through Netgalley for review by Traveling With T.

Small Town Spin by LynDee Walker

When Parker, star sports columnist for the Richmond Telegraph, lets Nichelle know about a scoop- even though she is sick, her reporter instincts kick in. She wants to know the who, what and why of the scoop, fully expecting a sports scoop with some serious messiness. However, the scoop is more than that. A teenage boy, TJ Okerson, son of Tony Okerson (legendary sports athlete), has committed suicide. Because Parker asks and thinks that the Okerson’s need Nichelle’s special brand of reporting- she agrees to report the facts of the suicide- even though the case shakes her up. Continue reading →

Inherit the Word by Daryl Wood Gerber

Inherit the Word by Daryl Wood Gerber

Photo Credit: Goodreads

This galley was requested through Netgalley in exchange for fair and honest opinion.

Inherit the Word

It’s time for Grill Fest and the contestants are getting restless. Natalie and Lola are sparring back and forth- first over a chef, then over who will win the Grill Fest. Tempers are running high and the competition is fierce…… and deadly. When Natalie is found in the alley, all the people at Grill Fest wonder who killed her.

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Four Friends by Robyn Carr (plus a giveaway)

Four Friends by Robyn Carr

Photo Credit: Harlequin Books

 

This book was sent to Traveling With T in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Four Friends by Robyn Carr

Gerri- she has her life together. 3 kids, adoring husband, Gerri has a job that fulfills her- she thinks life is pretty good. Until, the day she finds out about a secret that will shake her to the core- and cause her to look at her marriage without the rose-colored glasses.

Sonja- she believes in purification, that life is just better if you eat right, exercise, and feng-shui your life. When Sonja’s husband leaves her because he’s tired of living the New Age lifestyle with her (he wants to eat red meat and have a alcoholic drink), Sonja loses her faith in the things that have defined her life for the last several years.

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The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen

The wishing thread

Photo Credit: Goodreads

 

The Van Ripper women have been the talk of Tarrytown, New York, for centuries. Some say they’re angels; some say they’re crooks. In their tumbledown “Stitchery,” not far from the stomping grounds of the legendary Headless Horseman, the Van Ripper sisters—Aubrey, Bitty, and Meggie—are said to knit people’s most ardent wishes into beautiful scarves and mittens, granting them health, success, or even a blossoming romance. But for the magic to work, sacrifices must be made—and no one knows that better than the Van Rippers.

When the Stitchery matriarch, Mariah, dies, she leaves the yarn shop to her three nieces. Aubrey, shy and reliable, has dedicated her life to weaving spells for the community, though her sisters have long stayed away. Bitty, pragmatic and persistent, has always been skeptical of magic and wants her children to have a normal, nonmagical life. Meggie, restless and free-spirited, follows her own set of rules. Now, after Mariah’s death forces a reunion, the sisters must reassess the state of their lives even as they decide the fate of the Stitchery. But their relationships with one another—and their beliefs in magic—are put to the test. Will the threads hold?

 

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Magical realism… Some of it works, some of it doesn’t. The summary, the cover- oh this book had such promise for me. I wanted to love this book, I wanted to devour the pages. Maybe, I set my expectations too high because of the summary and the cover; but I was very lukewarm-ish about this book.

The writing, there is nothing wrong with the writing. But, the plot just took longer to get to a point than I cared for.

If you are looking for a light read, a read with magical realism- then this book is for you!

 

*This book was requested through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

 

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T

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The Favor by Megan Hart

the favor

Photo Credit: Harlequin

 

Janelle Decker has happy childhood memories of her grandma’s house, and even lived there through high school. Now she’s back with her twelve-year-old son to look after her ailing Nan, and hardly anything seems to have changed, not even the Tierney boys next door.

Gabriel Tierney, local bad-boy. The twins, Michael and Andrew.

After everything that happened between the four of them, Janelle is shocked that Gabe still lives in St. Mary’s. And he isn’t trying very hard to convince Janelle he’s changed from the moody teenage boy she once knew. If anything, he seems bent on making sure she has no intentions of rekindling their past.

To this day, though there might’ve been a lot of speculation about her relationship with Gabe, nobody else knows she was there in the woods that day…the day a devastating accident tore the Tierney brothers apart and drove Janelle away. But there are things that even Janelle doesn’t know, and as she and Gabe revisit their interrupted romance, she begins to uncover the truth denied to her when she ran away all those years ago.

 

Traveling With T’s Thoughts

Argh! I wanted to love this book. The plot was so great sounding. A mystery, a love affair, secrets, family drama- oh it sounded so good. Yet….. I just couldn’t get into it. I tried. I tried. I TRIED. And i just never could connect. The book dragged and dragged- all the appeal of the plot was missing.

Still, I kept on. Why? Because I wanted to know the secret. And, in the end, the secret was pretty good. But, but, but.. it was by sheer determination that I hung on reading this book.

Do I recommend this book? Sadly, I have to say not. If it’d been a little shorter, or if the pages just hadn’t dragged on- maybe.

*This book was requested through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

 

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T

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Dead Between the Lines (A Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery) by Denise Swanson

Dead Between the Lines

Photo Credit: Goodreads

This book was sent to Traveling With T by author in exchange for a honest review.

Dead Between The Lines

Opening an old-fashioned five-and-dime shop in her small Missouri hometown has been a great change for Devereaux “Dev” Sinclair. But when she hosts a reading group there, she learns that bad writing can mean life or death.

To keep her new business in the black, Dev opens up her shop to local clubs. But in the first meeting of the Stepping Out Book Club, the speaker storms out after members attack his poetry’s sexism and scorn for small towns. Later that night, the poet’s body is found outside Dev’s store.

Dev can’t afford for the murder to close her down, so she does a little stepping out of her own to investigate, with help from her two sexy suitors, Dr. Noah Underwood and Deputy U.S. Marshal Jake Del Vecchio. But when the killer threatens Dev, they will have to use every trick in the book to solve the case before she becomes the final chapter in this murder mystery.…

 

Ahh… a day in the life of Dev- she’s got 2 men wanting to be with her, 2 men that complement her in unique ways, she worries about her grandmother, and she finds out in this book that her dad will be returning from jail. So, Dev is trying to make the money while the sun is shining- which is why she opens up the Dime Store to clubs for bit of extra cash. The first book club meeting, though, may be the last- as the members get peeved with the author for his attitude toward women and small-town life. Dev knew many were peeved when they left, but she did not know who was peeved enough to kill the author or why they did it- was it because of the book club meeting? Or is there much more to this story?

What Dev knows is this: She can’t afford to be shut down while the police are looking for the killer- so off to work she goes. With a little help from the good doctor, Noah, and the hunk-alicious Deputy US Marshall, Jake- Dev is sure to get to the bottom of this mess, quick, fast and in a hurry. Which leaves her to think about other things- such as who is the yin to her yang?

 

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

I enjoy the Dime Store Mystery series! It’s fun, cute, and Denise writes small-town characters that are interesting and nice to read about. While I’m a bit more of a SCUMBLE RIVER fan, this DIME STORE mystery changed that. Dev has hit a groove with me in reading and I found myself not comparing to Scumble River as I have in the past. One thing I really liked about this book was that Denise is allowing us to see chapters from the male’s point of view- something I don’t remember her doing in Scumble River (although, perhaps I have forgot!) Getting to know Jake and Noah a bit, through their own thoughts and not the actions we see in the Dev chapters, added a bit to this book.

Even though recently, I went on a bit of rant about love triangles and their length, I actually like love triangles (as long as they don’t go on too long!) Right now, the love triangle with Dev, Noah and Jake is fine. Cute. You’ll hear it first when the triangle needs to leave the building, though.

Overall, enjoyable! A nice cozy mystery with some great characters. Definitely add this to the TBR list!

 

*Dead Between the Lines was sent to Traveling With T by author in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

 

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T

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Happily Ever After by Elizabeth Maxwell

happily ever after

Photo Credit: Touchstone Books

 

This book was sent to Traveling With T in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Happily Ever After

Sadie Fuller, 46, divorced, mother to an 11 year old. No time for romance. Looking at her, you might think that romance never crosses her mind. You’d be wrong. Because while the outside package would lead you to believe that Sadie is just a middle-aged mom and has no time for anything besides work and her daughter, inside is a whole other story. Sadie by day lives the suburban mom’s life… But at night, she writes steamy, best-selling erotica under the pen name KT Briggs.

Life is ok for Sadie. She’s got her daughter, a house, makes money writing her “mommy-porn”, and even has a weekly date with a man she met in the personals. But life is getting dull, Sadie has put love and romance aside (her weekly meetings are strictly taking care of business). One night, as she writing a new story about Aidan and Lily, she gets interrupted. And life turns from same old, same old to something else. When Sadie sees an incredibly good-looking man in Target, a man who looks vaguely familiar, but is very confused as to why he’s in Target- she slowly begins to realize why he looks familiar: It’s Aidan. Her character, Aidan!

As Sadie tries to help him find Lily and figure out why a witch named Clarissa has highjacked her story, she just wants to reunite Lily and Aidan, get them back in the story for some steamy romance time. However, Aidan may wind up teaching Sadie a thing or two and show her that happily ever after is not just for the books, that happily ever after might be where you least expect it.

 

Traveling With T’s Thoughts

Quirky fun. This book is pure quirky fun. Yes, it’s going to stretch your mind a bit, and yes, the idea of characters coming to life from a book is a bit out there. But, that is what makes it such delicious fun! This book is not a “thinker” book, you are not going to want to run out and change the world after reading it. It’s going to make you laugh and have fun, though, and that is way better!

Read HAPPILY EVER AFTER if you are looking for a fun read, not light and fluffy, just fun and quirky.  Enjoyable, laugh out loud fun- add this to your To Be Read list!

 

*Thanks to Touchstone Books for sending a copy of HAPPILY EVER AFTER to Traveling With T for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.

 

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T

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Pearls and Poison by Duffy Brown

pearls and poison

Photo Credit: Berkley

This book was sent to Traveling With T in exchange for an honest review.

Pearls and Poison

Reagan’s mama, the honorable judge Gloria Summerside (aka Judge Guillotine Gloria), is running for city alderman. Her main rival is Kip “Scummy” Seymour- and with only weeks to go before the election, the campaign is about to get dirtier- 6 feet more of dirt, to be exact. Continue reading →