The Things We Said Today by Lise McClendon

September 30, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Pump Up Your Book in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Things We Said Today by Lise McClendon was a great book that I loved from the first page. While I was reading this entire book I had a smile on my face because of some of the things that the characters were doing throughout the book. I also loved that this book takes place in Scotland. I have always wanted to travel there and after reading this book I know that at some point I will have to go. I loved all the crazy personalities that are in this book because you never knew what was going to happen and I loved that about this book. I am usually not a huge fan of romantic comedies but I loved this book and I know that I will be picking up the others books in this series because I loved everything about the characters and their personalities. The characters are people that I would want to hang out with in real like which means that the author did an excellent job of making the characters come to life as I was reading this book. If you love romance novels that leave you smiling after the book is over than I know this is the right book for you.

About The Book

Five sisters, all lawyers, well-trained in the art of demanding what’s necessary.It’s enough to drive a wedding planner to tears. Then add in a European venue, a Scottish hunting lodge, and a reluctant bride, and things get dicey. Can the middle sister, Merle, rally the troops, deal with the in-laws, and stop a powerful storm from ruining everything? Merle has powers of persuasion, especially when it comes to her French beau, Pascal, but in Scotland she has no clue how to corral her out-of-control sisters who are hellbent on wringing every bit of drama from a bad situation.

Annie Bennett is getting married…. At the ripe old age of 55. She’s turned down a few proposals over the years and stayed true to her motto: Stay single, stay happy. When she met handsome Scot Callum Logan she had no intentions beyond her own personal Highland fling. Then it happened: she fell in love. Annie’s doubts about marrying a much-younger man continue to plague her. Callum wants to get married in the bluebells of his native Highlands. But does Annie want to get married at all?

Join the Bennett Sisters in their third rollicking novel, after Blackbird Fly and The Girl in the Empty Dress, in another summer adventure with romance, intrigue, men in kilts, plus wine and whisky, as they navigate the treacherous waters of middle-age, self-discovery, and understanding your fears.

About The Author

Lise McClendon writes fiction in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. She has been a film reviewer, a film maker, a journalism professor, and a PR flack. Since her first novel, The Bluejay Shaman, was published in 1994, she has served on the national board of Mystery Writers of America and the International Association of Crime Writers/North America, as well as on the faculty of the Jackson Hole Writers Conference where each year she critiques, speaks, and learns from writers new and old.

Lise McClendon also writes as Rory Tate.

Her latest book is the women’s fiction, The Things We Said Today.

For More Information

Visit Lise McClendon’s website.
Connect with Lise on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about Lise at Goodreads.

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The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

September 29, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Harper Collins in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan was a fantastic book. From the first page of this book right through the end, I didn’t want to put this book down. I saw a lot of myself in Nina and the fact that she loves books just as much as I do. I have never thought about getting a job at the library but after this book, I am going to consider it. I have read one other book by this author, and if you want to see what I thought of that book, you can click here to check it out. I am pretty sure that I was going to like this book because I loved the other book of hers that I read. I also love these books because of the take place somewhere other than the United States which I like because I love learning what it is like living in other places in the world. If you love contemporary fiction books than I know, you will love this book just as much as I did.

About The Book

Nina Redmond is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more.

Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile—a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.

From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.

About The Author

Jenny T. Colgan was born in 1972 in Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland, UK. After studying at Edinburgh University, she worked for six years in the health service, moonlighting as a cartoonist and a stand-up comic, before the publication of her first novel Amanda’s Wedding in 2000. In 2013, her novel “Welcome to Rosie Hopkin’s Sweetshop of Dreams” won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists’ Association. She is now working on her next novel.

She mostly lives in France, with frequent visits to London. She occasionally writes for The Guardian newspaper, as well as a TV series.

Her Doctor Who novel Dark Horizons is published under the name Jenny T. Colgan.

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Monthly Favorites – September 2016

September 28, 2016

I did a few of this kind of posts in the past, but I think it has been year’s since I have taken the time to write one. Reviews have slowed down for me lately so I figured now would be an excellent opportunity to share some of the things that I am currently loving.

One the things I have been enjoying lately is a book that I am reading to review. The book is called The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter. I am not going to say much about this book because I will have a review up for it on October fifth. I have enjoyed everything about this book so make sure you check back on the fifth to find out what I loved so much about it.

The next thing I have loved has been adult coloring books. Over the past six months, I have been getting into them. I love coloring with gel pens in them because I have all different types of finishes, and they have such bright colors. I have loved one that is like a journal in the sense that you can write down thoughts you have about a quote or lesson that is taught on the other page. Then you can color the pages or just decorate the pages. I love this because it is journaling, but it also makes you think about God and life. If you are interested in pick this up, you can click here to buy a copy for yourself.

I also have been loving listening to Pandora radio on my way to and from work. I have always had a tremendous passion for music, and I love Pandora because it allows me to listen to all types of different music and it also recommends songs and artists that I might like. I love finding new music, and I have loved Pandora for that reason lately.

I have also been loving binge watching documentaries on YouTube and Netflix. I always have something playing in the background when I am at home on the weekends or even while I am at work during the week. There is one documentary that I watch on Netflix, and I enjoyed it so much I wanted to share it. It is called “Finding Home” and it is about the poor girls that are part of the sex trafficking problem in Cambodia. I have watched this one twice, and it breaks my heart just thinking about what the poor girls are forced to go through and deal with.

Those are a few of the things I have loved this month. I sure there are more things I could write about but I have run out of time. Maybe next month I will have more time to share more of the music and movies that I am loving.

What is something you love right now?

Everlasting Lies by Barbara Warren

September 27, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from iRead Book Tours in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Everlasting Lies by Barbara Warren wasn’t my favorite book that I have read lately. I had such a hard time with it because of the lying that goes on. When I saw this book I thought for sure, it would be something that I would enjoy reading but in the end, it just bugged me. It was well written, and I enjoyed the author writing. I kept thinking of my parents who lie all the time, and I just wasn’t able to get past that while I was reading this story. I am going to hold on to this book because I am sure I would like it, so I am going to pull it out in the future and give it another chance. Like I said this book is well written, and I know that most people would enjoy this book, and I want to try and read it again in the future to see if my thoughts change.

About The Book

Edina Paxton is kissed at twelve, seduced at fourteen and married with child at fifteen. She immediately regrets her marriage to Charles Vernon and is relieved when he leaves to fight in the trenches during WW1. She soon finds love, comfort and sexual satisfaction with Bill, another soldier and the boy who first kissed her.

Charles is invalided out of the army and is sent to India on a hospital ship. There, he becomes a manager of a coalmine in Britain’s Indian Empire, with all the privileges that his position rewards, including sexual favours from female employees. At the end of his army service in 1920 he returns to England to collect his family and return to India, only to be greeted with the news that while he was away Edina was at play. She is pregnant.

Reluctantly, Edina and her three children sail for India with Charles and Edina gives birth to her fourth child while sailing south on the Red Sea. On reaching India, Charles finds his Indian mistress is pregnant, and Edina finds Charles’s Indian boss to be very attractive. It’s a mutual attraction. Neither Edina nor Charles is a saint.

Piecing together fragments of her grandmother’s remarkable and tragic story, Everlasting Lies is Barbara’s loving tale of the early life of Edina, her grandmother, and Charles, Edina’s husband. They both experience the horrors of WW1 and, in hopes of renewing their marriage, start new lives as members of the upper class in Imperial India.

About The Author

Barbara Warren always has the pedal to the metal. Born in England and educated at a convent, she left school at sixteen and was selling encyclopedias in the roughest part of London at eighteen. She married and emigrated to Canada when she was twenty-three, had three charming daughters, went to university when she was thirty-six and retired from teaching in her mid fifties.

Then she pursued her passion for the arts and travel. She and her husband rode camels in India, elephants in Nepal and horses in Montana. They hitchhiked in Norway, cycled across Denmark and snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef. Barbara’s paintings grace homes in Canada, USA, and Mexico and she designs her clothes. She spends the winters in Mexico and the summers in the bible belt of southern Alberta.

Her first novel, Everlasting Lies, tells the story of her grandparents’ love affairs with each other and with others. They struggle to survive in the last years of Victorian England and the horrors of WW1 and then start a new life with four children in Imperial India.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Facebook

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Clint Eastwood – Quote Of The Week

September 26, 2016

This week’s quote is by Clint Eastwood.

I think he has to be one of my favorite actors so when I saw this quote I knew I wanted to use it. The first movie of his that I remember liking is Grand Torino because of how you got to seem him grow and change throughout the film. Let’s get on to my thoughts about this quote. I agree with this quote one hundred percent because the only thing you really can change is yourself. You can’t make someone or anything else change if they don’t want to change. I try and fix things in myself when I see something someone else does that bothers me. Those are just a few thoughts I have about this quote.

What do you think about this week’s quote by Clint Eastwood?

What is your favorite Clint Eastwood movie?

The Ride Of A Lifetime by Kitty McGregor

September 24, 2016

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Book Look in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Ride of a Lifetime by Kitty McGregor was am an okay book. I did enjoy this book but at times I found myself getting bored with the story. When I do get bored with a book, I just put it down and come back to it later which I was able to do with this one. I usually really enjoy books like this one but for some reason I think that this one tried too hard to be something that it wasn’t. There are parts where it seems like there are devil worshipers and that just rub me the wrong way with this book. I think that is because I wasn’t expecting that to happen with this book. Other than feeling like this book was trying to be scary it was an okay book. I would also be willing to check out other books by this author in the future. If you love Christian fiction, then I recommend you pick this one up and check it out.

About The Book

When Lucas McCade retired from the PRCA rodeo circuit, he was an internationally famous rodeo star. In a life of conquering hard bulls and harder men, he had rarely known defeat and never given into fear. Little could he have known that as he left the arena of wild-eyed bulls and slashing hooves, he was stepping into a life filled with real danger. Once he rode for gold-buckle dreams, now ride with Lucas McCade as he scouts the back trails over the rolling hills of Oklahoma and encounters the paths of the powers of darkness. In a culture where a man’s word is still his bond and a handshake seals a deal, McCade leads his family in a walk with Christ that causes outrage in the spiritual realm. Once again, ancient battle lines are drawn between the powers of the Prince of Darkness and the Heavenly forces of Jesus Christ. It promises to be the ride of a lifetime!