Tag: Beth Kendrick

Guest Review: Put a Ring On It by Beth Kendrick

Posted October 4, 2016 by Tina R in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: Put a Ring On It by Beth KendrickReviewer: Tina
Put a Ring On It by Beth Kendrick
Series: Black Dog Bay #3
Publisher: NAL
Publication Date: November 3, 2015
Pages: 283
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

The author of New Uses for Old Boyfriends returns to the Delaware seashore town of Black Dog Bay, where one woman learns to put passion before practicality…

Brighton Smith doesn’t do outrageous. As an insurance actuary, it’s her job to assess risk and avoid bad investments. But when her fiancé calls to confess he’s married someone else on a whim (“I looked at her and I just knew!”), she snaps…

That night, at a local bar, Jake Sorensen—hot, rich, and way out of her league—buys Brighton a cocktail. At midnight, she kisses him. And by dawn, they’re exchanging vows at a drive-through chapel.

Brighton knows Jake is a bad bet, but she doesn’t care. After a lifetime of playing it safe, she’s finally having fun. Until the whirlwind romance gives way to painful reality...and Brighton finds out the truth about why a guy like Jake married a girl like her. With her heart on the line and the odds stacked against them, Brighton must decide whether to cut her losses or take a leap of faith that this love affair is one in a million.

I have been reading some pretty heavy books lately, so I wanted to give myself a break to enjoy something lighthearted, romantic and simple. Put A Ring On It by Beth Kendrick totally fills that request.

The first thing that reeled me in was the adorable cover. Who can resist a sweet little fur-baby face?? As I was standing there perusing the shelves I noticed that practically all of the author’s books have covers that make you want to toss them your cart and take them home with you. Being a total cover-snob, this is a powerful thing!

After I got the book home, I realized that it was actually part of a series called Black Dog Bay. I believe it is the third book. Apparently though, the books can be read individually as I did not feel that I was missing out on anything by not reading the two prior books.

The story is set in a picturesque resort town called Black Dog Bay, and is the perfect location for this entertaining beach read. The main character is Brighton Smith, who has a basically mundane insurance job and suddenly finds herself jilted by a fiance who calls to tell her he just married someone else! So she heads out to Black Dog Bay to visit a friend and get away from her sudden predicament. And this is where the story pretty much begins.

I really enjoyed this sweet, romantic comedy. It is perfect for those times when you just need something that is uncomplicated, easy to read, and gives you a reason to smile. I will definitely be looking for more by Beth Kendrick. I find her writing to be charming, and her characters are all engaging and fun.

four-stars


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Guest Review: The Week Before the Wedding by Beth Kendrick

Posted September 18, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: The Week Before the Wedding by Beth KendrickReviewer: Tracy
The Week Before the Wedding by Beth Kendrick
Publisher: NAL
Publication Date: May 7, 2013
Format: Print ARC
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars

 

After enduring a chaotic childhood, Emily McKellips yearns for a drama-free life, complete with a white picket fence. Her dreams are about to come true: She has a stellar career, a gorgeous house, and a fiancé any woman would die for. But as friends and family arrive in picturesque Valentine, Vermont, for her wedding, an uninvited guest shows up.

Ryan is Emily’s first husband from a disastrous starter marriage. They wed on a whim, only to discover that combustible chemistry couldn’t ensure a happily ever after. But Ryan is no longer the headstrong boy she left behind. He’s now a successful film producer who just happens to be scouting a resort in Valentine with his adorable retriever in tow.

As the bridesmaids revolt and the mothers of the bride and groom do battle, Emily is surprised to discover new sides of both her ex and her fiancé. She thought she had life and love all figured out, but the next seven days might change her mind—and her heart.

Emily and Grant, her fiance, are at a quaint inn in Valentine, Vermont. It’s been tradition in Grant’s family for important events to take place. It’s only been 2 months since Grant proposed and Emily is so excited to be finally marrying the solid, dependable and stand-up surgeon. Her upbringing was a bit…scattered and she has been longing for stability ever since. She loves her mother but she’s always longed for the perfect traditional family and thinks she can get it with Grant.

The problems start almost immediately when her mother shows up. Georgia isn’t the staid, let’s-plan-an-ice-cream-social-for-the-bachelorette-party type. She wears slinky dresses and embraces her youth buy constantly dating. Emily is a bit embarrassed as Grant’s mother Bev is the type that thinks that excitement is staying up past 10pm.

Then Emily’s ex-husband Ryan shows up. Turns out he had gotten the information from Emily’s sister and maid of honor and showed up to try and talk Emily out of marrying Grant. He has a crazy way of doing though that’s kind of charming and unintrusive.

During the festivities Grant is called away to the hospital and this leaves Emily to doubt her decision about marrying the perfect man.

This was a very cute book about a woman who truly doesn’t know what she wants. It seems like someone in their 30’s should know what they want, especially a week before they get married, but she really didn’t. She gets so confused when her ex-hubby shows up and she realizes that she still has feelings for him.

I really liked Emily even though I thought she was a bit indecisive. I understood her desire for security but felt she should have examined her feelings a lot closer before agreeing to Grant’s proposal.

Grant, I thought, was a man who should NOT have been even thinking about marriage as he was so involved in his work. His work truly was his mistress.

In the end I thought the story was sweet and ended well. A nice bit of entertaining fluff that was worth taking the time to read.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars


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What I Read Last Week

Posted July 8, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 4 Comments

This is a really happy Monday in Tracyland as it is my youngest’s 11th birthday!! Woohoo! I can’t believe that she’s anywhere near that OLD but alas, she is. This is the crazy kid:

and just think, this is how she looked when I first started the blog: 

I know! 

She’s so funny. This weekend she was going to go somewhere with me and she was wearing a decent top but was wearing her dance shorts. Normally around the house it’s A-OK that she does that but it was just inappropriate for where we were going. I asked her to change her shorts and she whined and didn’t want to.

I said, “Come on chick, just humor me.”
She said, “OK. Did you hear the one about…”

OMG I just started laughing…and then pushed her into her room to change. 🙂

We had a good Independence Day – just hung out and watched movies and then my hubs and youngest went to watch fireworks.

My oldest got home from her week long mission trip stinking, with paint in her hair and more tired then I’ve ever seen her. She slept for 12 hours straight then woke up, ate and went back to bed. lol She had a great time though so it’s all good.

Ok – on to what I read last week: 

I started off the week with Lover Reborn by JR Ward. This is Tohrment’s story. If you’ve read the books you know that his love died and he’s still torn up about it but he’s told that Wellsie is in the In-Between and the only way she can get to the Fade (heaven) is for him to truly let her go. Now this is not a horrible scenario but when they said that it had only been 14 months since she died I was a bit put off. I think that was just too soon for him to be pushed, but whatever. His love interest was a woman named No’One who is actually Xhex’s mother. The story was decent but not fantastic. It was good to catch up with the past characters and of course to see what Blay and Qhuinn were up to. 3.25/3.5 out of 5 

Next up was Codename: Autumn by Aubrey Ross. The story is set on Earth but it has been taken over but aliens. The humans have either been killed or forced into prostitution or to work in the mines. Autumn chose to be a prostitute as the female mine workers got raped repeatedly. She figured it she was going to have to give up her body she might as well have a choice about it. Anyway, she gets into a bad sitch with a fellow prostitute and is saved by a commander, Ra’jen. He doesn’t pay for sex but they manage to work things out and next thing you know she’s his woman exclusively. The story also has a rebellion in it that Ra’jen is a part of and he brings Autumn into it as well. While this story has somewhat of an HFN ending the rebellion story is on-going and that was a bit frustrating. 3 out of 5 

The Switched Baby Scandal by Theresa Meyers is the story of single mom Taylor who finds out that her daughter is not the one she actually gave birth to. Her baby was switched with another at the hospital. Taylor isn’t willing to give up her child even though she’s not the one she carried for 9 months. She does want to meet her biological child though. Unfortunately when they contact the other family they find out that the other mom and Taylor’s real child were killed in an auto accident a year earlier. The story then covers Taylor’s interactions with her daughter and the father of the deceased child and how they fall in love. It was a decent story but the heroine kind of drove me nuts with her ups and downs and the hero with his survivors guilt. 3 out of 5 (read for Book Binge) 

The Week Before the Wedding by Beth Kendrick was next and follows Emily the week before her wedding to Grant at a destination in Vermont. Her mother is nuts, her fiancé is just about completely absent, her ex-husband shows up and Grant’s family is so prim and proper it drives her a bit crazy – even though she’s longed for prim and proper most of her life. This was an amusing story and it made me laugh on more than one occasion. The secondary characters almost ran the novel but it was still good. Emily was a bit wishy-washy but I loved Ryan and his quiet steadfastness. 3.5 out of 5 (read for Book Binge) 

Up next was What the Duke Desires by Sabrina Jeffries. The story is about the bastard daughter of a viscount, Lisette, who is trying to help a duke, Max, find her brother who supposedly has info on Max’s brother. Max wants the info and Lisette wants to make sure that Tristan is safe from their hal-brother who wants Tristan arrested. It’s mostly a romance that takes place while traveling and I always love those. It had Jeffries great writing and it was a decent read. 3.75 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

Pieces of Dreams by Jennifer Blake is a novella about a woman who is supposed to marry Caleb but is actually in love with his twin Conrad who has been at sea for years. Conrad shows back up and things get a bit hairy between the brothers. It was a good story except for the sex scene where “he drew off more layers of clothing like shucking an ear of corn to reach the tender kernels.” Oy. It kind of went on like that. It honestly almost was like someone else wrote the sex scene because the rest wasn’t like that at all and that really ruined it a lot for me. 3 out of 5 

From This Moment On by Bella Andre was my next read and is the story of Nicola who is a pop star and Marcus Sullivan who is 11 years her senior. They head off for a one night stand that doesn’t actually happen until much later but they both realize that one night isn’t enough and decide to spend time together until she leaves San Francisco. Of course they fall in love but it’s much more complicated than that. This was MUCH better than book 1 and I really enjoyed it. 4 out of 5 (read for Book Binge) 

The Savage King by Michelle M. Pillow is about a race on another planet, the Var – a race of large cat shifters, who are at war with the Draig, who are a race of dragon shifters. Ulyssa is sent to the planet from Earth to investigate a doctor but by the time she gets there the doc is dead. She has 3 months to wait for her ride off the planet and plans to camp – until she’s taken by the King of the Var. He dies like a day or so later and she ends up with his son, Kirill, and they fall in love, but not before they have lots of misunderstanding, arguments, and attempts at escape. There’s also a who part of the story that has to do with the late king and his plan for biological warfare. It was a decent read for a fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal. I don’t normally read this kind of thing but I liked it. 3.5 out of 5 

Last for the week was The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male by Jessica Clare. This story has Beth Ann out in the forest looking for her sister. The rain causes flooding and an evacuation but Colt who is volunteering see’s Beth Ann’s car and decides that he’s going to play a trick on her and tell her they can’t get out. It was only supposed to be for one night but Colt is surprised at the spine that Beth Ann shows and the next thing you know they’re sleeping together. The relationship moves from there but Beth Ann’s first requirement in a relationship is honesty and she has to trust her partner. Yeah, you can see where that’s going. The story was a good one though and I really liked both Beth Ann and Colt. I do wish that Beth Ann would have stood up for herself a bit more and MAN was there a lot of sex in the book, but I still really liked it. 4 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
One Night Rodeo by Lorelei James
Finding Billie by Priscilla Brown

Happy Reading!


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Review: My Favorite Mistake by Beth Kendrick

Posted January 19, 2008 by Rowena in Reviews | 3 Comments

Review: My Favorite Mistake by Beth KendrickReviewer: Rowena
My Favorite Mistake by Beth Kendrick

Publication Date: August 3rd 2004
Pages: 304
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars

FIRST LOVE ISN'T FOREVER...

Exhibit A: Faith's little sister, Skye, who muddled through her first divorce at the tender age of twenty-one. Faith has always provided damage control when Skye's love life gets too reminiscent of a daytime drama. But now that Faith has finally found the job, if not the man, of her dreams -- as a culinary writer, currently living la dolce vita in Italy -- she can't just jet back to small-town Minnesota to help her suddenly pregnant little sister heal her broken heart and anemic bank account.

BUT NEVER SAY NEVER!

Faith has been putting off this homecoming for years, ever since her dad left her family in the lurch, her mother left her in charge of Skye, and a sub-zero case of cold feet led her to call off the engagement to her high school sweetheart, Flynn. But a return to the amber fields of grain might just be what Faith needs to gain some perspective on her past -- and figure out her future. It's been way too long since her last love affair...memories of Flynn still get in the way of every man she meets. But if she and Flynn are really meant to be, why does the path to happily-ever-after have so many potholes?

I finished this book late last night and was glad that I finished the book. You see, I started this book months ago and kept putting it down because it just wasn’t catching my attention but once I got past those torturous first three chapters (HA!) the book was easy to read and flowed really well afterward.

You may be wondering why I gave this book a C+ if it flowed really well and the answer to that is even though this was an easy read for me, the book was sort of unbelievable. I mean, you’ve got Faith Geary and Patrick Flynn, elementary sweethearts, middle school sweethearts, high school hearts (they’ve been best friends all their lives) and the night that they finally land the deal and lose their virginity to each other, Flynn pledges his undying love to her and wants to immediately make her his wife and she panics and flees…..for 10 YEARS!

She comes back after being gone for 10 years and finds out that the bar she’s a co owner is also co owned by…noneother than Flynn. So she’s forced to save the family bar with Flynn under foot and after a tumultuous reunion with a pissed off Flynn telling Faith to take the hell off and get out, Faith and Flynn get closer and closer after what seems like days and you can tell that they’re about to fall back in love again after Flynn has been pissed to high heaven for the last 10 frickin years! And then he hears a voicemail from her editor about her coming back to California and he freaks the hell out and leaves her again…and they meet up again at their place when they were little, the last place she saw him the first time she ran and things are neatly lined up and they forgive each other, they learn to trust each other underneath the Midwestern sky and next to the river from their childhood.

It was all too neat and too tidy but the storyline, is a storyline that I enjoy, the first loves, the best friends and the one that got away storyline is my absolute favorite and I would have loved this story if it took place over a longer period of time, if it had taken more than a few weeks for them to fall back in love with each other, I would have liked it more. And because that bothered me a bit, this book ended up being just okay to me. Don’t get me wrong, the story is easy to fall into, the book moves at a great pace, it’s just too….unbelievable.

Get it or not, the book is good, it’s just…not the best.

three-half-stars


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