Faking It, by Cora Carmack

I'm never one to turn away a good book, even if the genre (in this case, New Adult) is not usually my cup of tea. However, after reading her first book in this series, I was begging to find out what happened to Bliss' best friend from Losing It.

In Faking It, Cora Carmack's follow-up to Losing It, Cade Winston gets his star turn. After confessing his undying love to his best friend, Bliss, and then losing her to someone else, Cade finds himself at odds with himself and life. Living in Philadelphia and attending grad school for drama, he's in the same city with Bliss and her boyfriend (and former teacher, Garrick), and the city has never seemed so small. With no where to turn to escape his disappointment, his luck turns when Mackenzie (Max) Miller spies him in a coffee shop, and at the spur of the moment, asks him to play the role of boyfriend in order to placate her parents.

Max is unlike anyone he's ever met before, and perfect Cade is thrown by his immediate attraction to her. Max, a musician, is  heavily loaded down with baggage from her past, and as she strives to make a name for herself, she fights what she feels for Cade with the belief that she's toxic to anyone around her. The attraction between them is too strong yet in order to be together, these two have to overcome their pasts and accept that they are deserving of a happy ending.

Ms. Carmack tells the story from both Max's and Cade's points of view in alternating chapters.  It's an effective method that gives us a deeper understanding of just what drives these characters. I don't think the story would have had the same punch if it were written in the third person, or from only one point of view. And some of the lines that Ms. Carmack assigns to Cade even had me swooning. How could Max possibly resist when this thought is running through Cade's head. "I pulled her into my arms and she cried until the events of the morning disappeared, until the present took a backseat to the past. And until I knew I couldn't live without her." Sigh.

Wonderful story, terrific writing. Read Losing It first, however. Also very well-written, it's as romantic and heartwarming as Faking it, and you get a pretty good idea of where Cade is coming from. Highly recommend.

Wanted: Wife by Gwen Jones

"My childhood had been peppered with tales about Pineys, crazy backwoods Jethros who shotgunned first and asked questions later."

"Either this man was yanking my chain or there were still people out there who could surprise me. 'You don't think advertising on a utility pole for a wife is a bit out of the ordinary?'"

"He wasn't medieval; he was positively Neanderthal."



What's up with Andy?

No one can be that perfect, the rare combination of a "manly-man," sexy, sensitive, romantic, gorgeous and half French.  First hint that all is not what it seems: he's a native of New Jersey and living in that great state myself, I know these attributes are oh so thin on the ground.  So when Andy Devine advertises for a wife by hanging flyers on telephone poles, you know there's got to be much more going on.  And Julie Knott, a Philadelphia reporter drawn to the unusual, is on the case.  Julie's personal life is in shambles but the story comes first, especially when Andy, after interviewing 100 wannabe Mrs. Devines, decides Julie fits the bill. Having very little left to lose, Julie agrees to Andy's proposal - and brings her own secrets to the South Jersey Pines.

An unforgettable hero, an unusual premise, an unlikely setting, (the New Jersey Pine Barrens, for goodness sake!) and a spot-on first person narrative combine to make this one of the freshest, funniest contemporary romances I've read so far this year.  The truth does eventually prevail, and when it does, you find yourself on your feet, rooting for this romantic pair.   Wanted: Wife is a winner.


Available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.  Publication date is June 4, 2013.

Good to Myself, by Heather Wardell (Toronto Series)

"I was so very tired of games. But I'd never met a sexy guy who didn't make me play them."

"...that tall sleek body dressed in a dark green dress shirt and black pants that hugged him like they'd loved  him all their life." 

"Then I stopped savoring, and the words 'good to myself' rang through my head." 

I adore books I can relate to. Better yet, if a book makes me reconsider my personal status quo, it's forever labeled a favorite. I knew by the title that Good to Myself by Heather Wardell had that potential.  It does. In spades.

Lydia Grange is a popular online columnist. Single, savvy and smart, she's perceived as Canada's answer to Carrie Bradshaw.  When one of the lead columnists in the office leaves, Lydia is asked to compete with her two coworkers for the high profile job. The premise of the competition is  straightforward - increase site traffic through a "Be Good to Yourself and teach your followers how to be the same" campaign.  Lydia believes she has this one nailed down, after all she's good to herself all the time. Unchecked retail therapy at bargain prices, sexy guys leading to sex with no strings, slices of fabulous cheesecake whenever possible and a staggering Starbucks habit chock full of sugary, caffeinated heaven. All in the name of feeling good as often as possible. However, as the competition goes on, Lydia discovers that her version of being good to herself usually falls short of the intended result. And it's this self discovery that kept me turning the pages. 

Lydia certainly made me uncomfortable and for several chapters I didn't understand why. Then I realized she reminded me of, well, me.  Her epiphanies come slowly and are hard earned, but when they arrive, I guarantee you, as a reader, will be nodding your head and cheering her on and perhaps seeing more than a little something of yourself in her.  Oh, and the purse on the cover.  Been there and bet you have too. 

Ms. Wardell is one of my favorite authors and in Good to Myself, she reminds me why. A modern romance where the protagonist finds her way first is the very best kind. Well written and well done.  Two thumbs up. Way up. 

Darius (Lonely Lords #1), by Grace Burrowes

How in the world does Grace Burrowes do it? Book after book, she delivers. In Darius, I think she's found her most unlikely yet noblest hero yet.

Darius Lindsey, the youngest son of the Earl of Wilton, finds himself in dire straits. His father, for reasons Darius would rather not contemplate, but is all too aware of,  has cut him off from his inheritance and left him to fend for himself. In order to help his widowed brother, his small ward and his reputation challenged sister,  he finds himself selling himself for coin. When Lord Longstreet is in want of an heir in order to protect his soon to be widow, he enlists Darius' help and an unlikely bargain is struck. What Darius and Lady Vivian Longstreet did not bargain for was the attraction they have for each other and the lengths to which each is willing to go to protect the other.

Ms. Burrowes' writing is beautifully styled and her characters are always so fully developed. In this novel, we revisit with old friends from previous tales (always a treat) and we are once again witness to flawed characters overcoming adversity and themselves to be the people they were meant to be, and to fall in love while they are doing it. Just superb. This is historical romance as it was meant to be written and read.

I'm looking forward to the next in this new series. Highly recommend.

It Happened One Midnight: Pennyroyal Green Series by Julie Anne Long

Thomasina De Ballesteros and Jonathan Redmond are as unlikely a couple as ever there was. And Julie Anne Long takes the circuitous route in bringing them together, which makes It Happened One Midnight an irresistible romance read. I love the way Ms. Long weaves a story and this one is certainly no exception. Tommy and Jonathan dance a slow circle around each other, testing, pushing, learning each other as the layers are peeled away.  Ms. Long's talent for placing the reader inside the story makes it seem as if we are doing the same - slowly, deliciously, page by page, coming to know Tommy and Jonathan as they really are, not as society defines them. This careful reveal kept me turning the pages while at the same time wishing I could just stop - so as to make the telling last. It was a brilliant feeling.

Great read by one of my favorite authors and available for preorder now on Amazon.

Nowhere But Home, by Liza Palmer

While I have a few friends from the State of Texas, I've never been there myself.  But in reading Liza Palmer's latest release, Nowhere But Home, I found it possible to wish I was a native like the residents of North Star, home to Queenie Wake and her sister Merry Carole.

Queenie, (short for Queen Elizabeth), a chef with a temper and a chip on her shoulder,  gets fired from her latest position in New York City, and with no where else to go, she's forced to head home to Texas, and her sister and nephew, in the Hill Country town of North Star. She's been working in different cities, trying to outrun her feelings for the man she was in love with since she was eleven years old, Everett Coburn. "Ever," a man from one of North Star's golden families, was persuaded by his family to end his relationship with  the daughter of the town "floozie." Unfortunately for both Queenie and Everett, there would never be anyone else.

Queenie returns to live with Merry Carole and Cal, her nephew (the star quarterback on the high school football team). She gets a job cooking in a state prison for death row prisoners and while the job is stressful in ways she couldn't begin to imagine, she's the master of her own kitchen and begins to understand how her past and her upbringing have colored her outlook on this small town and its inhabitants. And she puts into motion what she needs to put the past behind her.

Filled with touches of Queenie's unique humor,  Nowhere But Home is actually a coming of age story, for Queenie, her sister, her nephew, their friends, Everett and even the town mean girls, who after all these years, still try to intimidate the Wake sisters until their own pasts catch up to them. All must learn to put the past where it belongs, and change the things about themselves that can be changed, while coming to terms and accepting everything else that cannot.

Liza Palmer, in a wonderfully written contemporary story, reminds us that no matter how old we are, there is still growing up to do, a past to put into perspective, and that love, in the end, can conquer all. It's a potent recipe for a very satisfying read.

Silver Orphan, a social novel by Martine Lacombe

Occasionally (and hard to believe, I know) a book that makes me think does cross my desk. When that happens, I'm reminded that books not only provide a means of escapism from every day trials and tribulations, but can and should educate, prod and poke at one's conscience as well.  Silver Orphan, by Martine Lacombe is one of those books.

Silver Orphan is two stories. First, it's the story of Frank Moretti, an immigrant's son and now an elderly man living in Florida on his own with no family and seemingly no friends. The second story is Brooke Blakes'. She's a pharmaceutical rep who at first seems to have no social conscience at all. Self-absorbed and in it for the money and little else, Brooke is not looking to get involved, but she and Frank meet when she sees Frank hitchhiking on a Florida street. What happens in the course of the next eight months changes both of their lives.

While the story starts with Frank's death (not much of a spoiler here, you'll read about it on the very first page), Ms. Lacombe uses flashbacks to tell Frank's life story. Interspersed with those flashbacks, she allows us to see how Brooke and Frank's friendship begins to develop. We also follow Brooke's metamorphosis from what she was to someone who begins to care for people other than herself. We then follow her lone odyssey; an attempt to unravel the rest of Frank's story to find his next of kin.

While I thought her change of heart and willingness to get involved abrupt at times and possibly a bit too optimistic for reality, it serves its purpose. And that purpose is to bring attention to the problem of the elderly in this country, especially those without family support systems in place to help them meet basic life needs . Ms. Lacombe makes a strong argument in the Afterword, from which I garnered this: Unless we as a society undergo a figurative change like Brooke's, the large aging population in this country will experience an end of life scenario similar to Frank's. It's a point eloquently made even before we get to that Afterword.

Silver Orphan contains other lessons as well. Among them are a brief description of  how Big Pharma's reps work to get doctors to push certain drugs, and  a lesson, too, on the internment of Italian-Americans during WWII, something I did not know about. There are also two  surprising twists at the end, both of which serve exceptionally well in wrapping up our protagonists' stories.

Silver Orphan is a well-written, fast moving novel of social importance. Before we even realize what has happened, we've learned a lesson in a subject that's extremely difficult for us to face.  But we must all be more attuned to it no matter how painful the subject matter is if there are to be real changes in the treatment and caring of the elderly in this society. Silver Orphan is truly the spoonful of sugar that makes that particular medicine go down.