Tag: Avon A

Review: She Went All The Way by Meg Cabot.

Posted June 22, 2011 by Rowena in Reviews | 6 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins


Main Character: Lou Calabrese
Love Interest: Jack Townsende
Series: None
Author: Website|Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads

Success hasn’t spoiled screenwriter Lou Calabrese — it’s just given her a taste for luxury. And it’s put her in some bizarre situations — like in a helicopter en route to the wilds of Alaska, sharing too-close quarters with the last man she wants to be with: Jack Townsend! Once a sexy nobody whom Lou helped make a somebody, Jack’s just been dumped by a high-profile Hollywood airhead — who’s eloped with Lou’s longtime love! So what else could go wrong?

Well…

Their pilot could try to shoot the most adored man in America. They could crash land in the icy, mountainous middle of nowhere. And at the worst possible moment, when survival should be their only consideration, Jack could start wondering if maybe he wasn’t a wee bit too hasty for not giving this sexy screenwriter a second look — while Lou could start noticing how superstar Jack is kind of hot after all …

Jack Townsende is one yummy piece of man. He’s one of those action hero movie stars and he knows that he’s the sexiest man alive….and Lou Calabrese hates the ever living heck out of him. She hates him because one of her best friends was left heartbroken by the insufferable Jack Townsende. The story starts off with Lou finding out that her man has eloped with Jack’s ex girlfriend. Lou’s left in the dust, heartbroken but Jack couldn’t care less.

So Lou’s a screenwriter and she’s flying out to a movie set to make sure that the director doesn’t blow anything up for real and guess who the movie star is? Jack freaking Townsende, that’s who. She’s not wild about being stuck with him and when they’re held up together, they try to figure out who’s trying to kill Jack. It could be anyone since he’s a heart breaker.

This book was another laugh out loud fun filled book that only Meg Cabot can write. She writes the kind of books that you won’t be able to put down because you’re too busy laughing your tail off. Jack is all kinds of hot and Lou is all kinds of funny. Jack is a little older than the heroes that I’m used to reading but that didn’t bother me any because he was a sexy beast.

I love that Lou was fiercely loyal to everyone she cared about and I adored that she wasn’t one of those stubborn heroines that got on your hot damn nerves. I wanted to be her best friend even though I was having such naughty thoughts about her man. If we were in a YA novel, we’d be the perfect pair because that seems to be hot these days in the YA genre.

If you enjoy Meg Cabot’s adult books then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this book. It’s not the best of her books but it’s still fun and cute and you should definitely read it.

For all my Moms out there, I’d give this book a rating of:

There’s mature content and this is a book written for adults so parents beware!

..and that’s your scoop!

Buy the book: B&N|Borders|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

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Review: Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot.

Posted September 29, 2010 by Rowena in Reviews | 6 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins


Main Characters: Lizzie Nichols, Luke de Villiers
Series: Queen of Babble series, Book 1

What’s an American girl with a big mouth, but an equally big heart, to do?

Lizzie Nichols has a problem, and it isn’t that she doesn’t have the slightest idea what she’s going to do with her life, or that she’s blowing what should be her down payment on a cute little Manhattan apartment on a trip to London to visit her long-distance boyfriend, Andrew. What’s the point of planning for the future when she’s done it again? See, Lizzie can’t keep her mouth shut. And it’s not just that she can’t keep her own secrets, she can’t keep anything to herself.

This time when she opens her big mouth, her good intentions get Andrew in major hot water. Now Lizzie’s stuck in London with no boyfriend and no place to stay until the departure date written on her non-changeable airline ticket.

Fortunately, Lizzie’s best friend and college roommate is spending her summer in the south of France, catering weddings in a chateau. One call and Lizzie’s on a train to Paris. Who cares if she speaks only rudimentary French? One glimpse of gorgeous Chateau Mirac — not to mention gorgeous Luke, Chateau Mirac’s owner — and she’s smitten.

But while most caterers can be trusted to keep a secret, Lizzie’s the exception. And no sooner has the first cork been popped than Luke hates her, the bride is in tears, and it looks like Chateau Mirac is in danger of becoming a lipo-recovery spa. As if things aren’t bad enough, ex-boyfriend Andy shows up looking for “closure” (or at least a loan), threatening to ruin everything, especially Lizzie’s chance at ever finding real love — unless she can figure out a way to use that big mouth of hers to save the day.

My cousin Lexi was the first person to pimp this series out to me. She swore that I was going to love it and because we have similar tastes in books, I picked it up and of course, loved it.

That was a long time ago.

This time around, I think I loved it more. The story starts off with Lizzie Nichols just graduating from college (or so she thought) and heading off to England to spend time with her boyfriend Andrew who turns out to be a total douche who complains to his family about what a fatty she is and who does other douchey things that makes Lizzie up and run off to spend the summer with her best friend Shari and Sheri’s boyfriend Chaz, who are staying in France at Chaz’s friend’s house. When she hops on the train, she meets up with a guy who she is totally digging and ends up spilling her guts out to him.

The guy she spills her guts out to turns out to be Chaz’s friend, the guy that they’re staying with and Luke (that’s his name) turns out to be a total dream boat and the book just sort of takes off from there.

I really enjoyed this book and I enjoyed getting to know Lizzie. She got herself into trouble a bunch of times because of that mouth of hers but in this book, it was funny and at times, cute. Meg Cabot does a great job of making you come to care for the characters in this book and she’ll have you cheering Lizzie on as she goes from one problem to another but in the end, you’ll be happy with the journey that Lizzie has gone on so far but you’ll also be anxious for more from this cast of characters.

This is the first book in the Queen of Babble series and I have every faith that if you’re a fan of Meg Cabot and a fan of Contemporary Young Adult fiction that you’ll enjoy this book.

There’s much to recommend this book from the laugh out loud moments that are all over the place, to the charming cast of characters, a hot stud of a hero in Luke (who is totally dream worthy) and a perky heroine in Lizzie. You’ll love Shari and Chaz and you’ll definitely want to rush out and buy the next book so if you haven’t read this series, I think you should.

Reading Order:

…and that’s your scoop,

Buy the book: B&N|Borders|Amazon|The Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com

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Review: His Other Lover by Lucy Dawson.

Posted September 23, 2009 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins


Rowena’s review of His Other Lover by Lucy Dawson.

Grade: 2.5 out of 5

To Mia, the devastating proof is right there on her boyfriend’s cell phone. In the dead of night she discovers Pete—her lover, her soul mate, her future—is having an affair. Instead of waking him with accusations, Mia begins to look for answers. What woman wouldn’t want to know everything, after all? But her desperate search only beings a frightening series of lies and deceptions.

Everything important to Mia may be on the line, but she’s also about to cross it. Desperation, obsession, and heartache can only lead to catastrophe, and if the cold, hard truth is not what Mia imagines, pursuing it could be the worst mistake she has ever made.

Just how far is too far?

When I first started reading this book I thought for sure that I was going to love it. When we first read about Mia’s initial reaction to finding out that her boyfriend is cheating on her, I felt her pain. Bloodthirsty bitch that I am, I wanted her to kick him in the nads, make him hurt where it counts. Get a little revenge but what I got instead was Mia hurdling down this desperate journey that ultimately leads to me thinking that she is one crazy bitch and that I would have totally cheated on her as well.

I mean, the lengths that she went through to keep Pete pissed me off and while I thought I was going to get a story about revenge of the scorned woman, instead I got a tale of a pathetic woman who got cheated on and at the end I was pissed with the way the entire book ended. I get it, really I do. This isn’t a romance and with the way that it ended, I can’t even say that this book was a Chick lit novel because the ending just flat out sucked bid donkey balls but the author had me cheering on the main character, Mia. She had me wanting Mia to stand up for herself, she had me pissed to high heaven for her and then in the end, at her.

This book follows Mia through the different emotions she comes into contact with as she learns about her boyfriend’s cheating and then it follows her throughout the different events that happen after she finds out. At first, there’s that utter desolation and then there’s the anger and the revenge but then the end happens and you’re left wondering, WTF?

It’s not a book that I’d likely read again but I was all captivated by this book because I could totally see this happening in real life and I’ve known people who thought like Mia did in this book. It did leave me wondering what the hell I’d do if I caught someone cheating on me the way that Mia did. I honestly have no idea. I’d like to say that I’d react differently but who knows? I never thought some of my good friends would do some of the things they did when they caught their spouses cheating. I’d like to think I’d handle it like an adult but I honestly don’t know and this book proved that love seriously makes you do some seriously effed up things.

Would I recommend this book? I’m not sure because this is mainly a romance review site and our reader base is mostly romance readers. This is not a romance novel you guys. This is the darker side of love that we don’t care for in our romance novels so for all of you romance novel readers out there, I don’t think this book is for you because after all is said and done, I’m still pissed and I’m still not happy with the book as a whole.

Ugh.

This book is available from Avon A. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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Review: Love on the Line by Laura Castoro.

Posted February 11, 2009 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins

Grade: 4 out of 5

Identity, attitudes, and culture collide as a mother and daughter’s values and backgrounds are challenged by everyone around them in this moving, often humorous, and unforgettable novel from laura castoro.

It ain’t easy being biracial and a trust fund baby, but blue-eyed Jesse Morgan is determined to just be herself at an eastern college—where no one will know who or what she is…unless she chooses to tell them. What Jesse doesn’t yet realize is that “no past” doesn’t equal “no problems.”

High-powered executive Thea Morgan is marrying Rev. Xavier Thornton—the former athlete and successful black businessman-turned-pastor, a man she first fell in love with at sixteen. A fair-skinned black woman who cracked the glass ceiling in the Texas oil business, Thea assumes her identity difficulties are behind her. She hasn’t yet met Xavier’s new congregation in a down-on-its-luck Arkansas town…nor Mrs. Hattie Patterson—the matriarch of St. Hurricane Church who has fixed opinions about how a minister’s wife should behave. Will Thea lose her struggles to win over Xavier’s congregation, people who just don’t understand her big-city ways? It will take every bit of her humor, business acumen, and just plain hard-loving to deal with her crisis of faith and the sinking feeling that, just maybe, love can’t conquer all.

Like mother, like daughter, Thea and Jesse discover that sometimes to get what you need most you to have to put everything, even love, on the line.

I can’t exactly pinpoint what I thought this book would be about but I could tell you that I wasn’t expecting what I got. I was expecting something light and fluffy but what I got was the exact opposite of that. This is a story about the evolving relationship between a mother and daughter but also about the changes that two women go through over the course of their lives.

You’ve got Thea, who is about to marry Xavier Thornton, an ex-athlete turned minister. They’ve known each other for years and they’ve got some history. They’ve come together again and found a love that suits them both. At work, Thea is thriving, she’s just been offered a promotion but she battles with the decision to accept the job or not because she hadn’t yet made any kind of decision with Xavier about where they were going to live, what they were going to do after the wedding and so Thea’s got a lot of things that she must work through and difficult decisions she must make and problems that she must overcome throughout the length of this story.

Thea’s got a daughter named Jesse who is at that age in her life when she’s tested to see what kind of person she is. She’s going through her own changes and it was really interesting to read her part of the book because she’s getting pulled in all these different directions and I ended up really liking her character. She did the best that she could considering and I just really enjoyed reading about her struggles.

This whole book was one of those emotional stories that you weren’t quite expecting but enjoyed anyway. We read about different topics that make for a really great read. It’s character driven and I was really glad that I read it. It’s one of those books where you had to take a few days after finishing it to gather your thoughts on the book because you liked it and you want other people to give it a chance. It’s one of those books that if you stick around long enough, you’ll be rewarded with a prize, kinda like a Cracker Jacks box…if you keep eating, eventually you’ll get to the prize at the bottom and I really do think that this book was a gem of a book and I’m glad that I read it. It’s not one of those light and fluffy romance novels that we’re all used to, that’s for sure but it’s good anyway.

This book is available from Avon A. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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Review: Dear Neighbor, Drop Dead by Saralee Rosenberg.

Posted September 18, 2008 by Rowena in Reviews | 4 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins


Grade: 4.75 out of 5

In Mindy’s yoga-obsessed, thirty-is-the-new-wife neighborhood, every day is a battle between Dunkin’ Donuts, her jaws-of-life jeans, and Beth Diamond, the self-absorbed sancti-mommy next door who looks sixteen from the back. So much for sharing the chores, the stores, and the occasional mischief to rival Wisteria Lane.

It’s another day, another dilemma until Beth’s marriage becomes fodder on Facebook. Suddenly the Ivy Keague blonde needs to be “friended,” and Mindy is the last mom standing. Together they take on hormones and hunger, family feuds and fidelity, and a harrowing journey that spills the truth about an unplanned pregnancy and a seventy-year-old miracle that altered their fates forever.

Dear Neighbor, Drop Dead is a hilarious, stirring romp over fences and defenses that begs the question, what did you do to deserve living next door to a crazy woman? Sometimes it’s worth finding out.

This was another one of those really quick reads and holy hot damn, this book was hilarious. This book is about Mindy Sherman and Beth Diamond, both are mothers and next door neighbors. One is kinda on the frumpy side but hecka funny (Mindy) and the other is the perfect, skinny bitch from next door (Beth), they’re neighbors, carpool buddies and yeah, that’s about it. Mindy can’t stand Beth but tolerates her because she takes her kids to school when she can’t and Beth can’t stand Mindy and doesn’t care if Mindy knows she finds her totally lacking.

Mindy is normal and Beth is that annoyingly perfect bitch from next door with her perfect house, her perfect hair/body/makeup. Mindy would be like Lynette from Desperate Housewives and Beth is Bree Van de Camp.

The book is about life. It’s about friendships, trials and family. You start this book and you meet the characters and then you laugh with them, you rejoice with them and you want to poke their eyes and at the end of the book, you’re all mad that you finished the book in such a short amount of time because now the good times are done and you don’t have any Mindy scenes to make you crack the hell up and you don’t have any more I can’t believe Beth said that or did that or anything and it’s just a really fun book about life in the suburbs, about what everyone is thinking, saying and doing. It’s a hilarious story that follows these two women through their lives and I swear I couldn’t stop laughing.

It’s not one of those deep, make you analyze your life kind of books. It’s just a fun read and I really enjoyed it.

Mindy was fantastic! I loved her, her family, her moody teenaged daughter and I loved her personality. She was a laugh a minute and if she were real, I would totally be friends with her. She’s so real. The way she was with Artie and the kids had me smiling, laughing and just happy.
She had a great family and a great life and like all normal women, they always wanted more and take what they had for granted until they get a glimpse into the lives of those lives that they want so bad.

Like Beth. Beth was so different from Mindy, she seemed so put together with the perfect family, the perfect house, the perfect life and yet it isn’t always as it seems. She had her own issues that she was trying to deal with and after you get to know her a little better, you don’t hate her as much as you first thought. You understand, you sympathize and then you smile because Mindy does something or says something that cracks you the heck up.

Watching Mindy become Beth’s only friend was frickin’ hilarious. I enjoyed the interactions between these two, sometimes it got to be a bit much but it wasn’t annoying to the point where you’d want to put the book down or throw the book against the wall. I’m telling you guys, this book is really funny. I enjoyed it quite a bit and I’m sure you will too. I enjoyed it so much that Saralee Rosenberg that I’m putting her on my list of authors to glom.

Should you read this book? Heck to the yes. Give her a try and see if she’s your cuppa tea. I’m glad that I was given the opportunity to read this book because I seriously enjoyed it. Am already looking forward to my next Saralee Rosenberg, now if only I can find the time to fit her into my reading schedule. So many books to read, not enough time to fit her in but I shall try.

Good book.

This book is available from Avon A. You can buy it here.

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