Tag: Donna Hill

Anthology Review: More than Words, Volume 7 with Carly Phillips, Jill Shalvis and Donna Hill

Posted July 27, 2011 by Holly in Reviews | 1 Comment

Holly‘s review of More Than Words with Carly Phillips, Jill Shalvis and Donna Hill

Each and every one of us has the ability to effect change—to make our world a better place. The dedicated women selected as this year’s recipients of Harlequin’s More Than Words award have changed lives, one good deed at a time. To celebrate their accomplishments, some of our bestselling authors have honored the winners by writing stories inspired by these real-life heroines.

We hope More Than Words inspires you to get in touch with the real-life heroine living inside of you.

Each of the stories in this collection incorporates a real life heroine nominated through Harlequin’s More Than Words program. The women nominated are ones who have done major things to help their community or bring awareness to vital programs. I really like the idea of the program and was excited to read the stories each author put forth.

In Carly Phillips’s Compassion Can’t Wait, two high school sweet hearts are reunited years later, as if by fate, and discover that if you believe in yourself and each other, anything is possible.

Kyle and Julia were childhood best friends and high school sweethearts. When Kyle gets called up to the minors right out of high school he wants Julia to go with him. Since her sister is sick with cancer and her family is being torn apart by it, she refuses. They lose contact after that. Kyle is hurt that Julia wouldn’t go with him, and Julia is hurt that he’d take off without a word, knowing she couldn’t leave her family.

Now Julia is a social worker who helps single parents families cover their expenses through the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation. One of her cases involves a set of twins – one is dying of cancer and the other has basically been abandoned by his mother while she deals with the sick one. The healthy son is a major fan of Kyle’s – who’s now a major league ball player – and she wants to set up a meeting between the two.

Between them, Kyle and Julia have a lot of baggage. Kyle grew up in a dirt poor home in less than ideal circumstances. Julia had the perfect family life until her sister became ill and she lost her parents to her sister’s care. They relied on each other to fill in the gaps of their missing families. So when Kyle left Julia behind, it was more devastating to both of them than they could have imagined. Of the two, I think Julia had more reason to be angry than Kyle. Yes, he had the opportunity to follow his dream, but she was dealing with a sick sister and her family was falling apart.

Lucky for us, Kyle realized this almost immediately upon seeing Julia again. From there he just had to convince her that they were meant to be together. Their’s was a sweet romance. I liked that, though they had history, they focused on the here and now as much as possible. The main conflict comes from Julia’s trust issues and I thought Phillips handled it well for the page count.

Overall a sweet reunited lovers story.

4.5 out of 5

Donna Hill’s Someplace Like Home tells the story of how one woman’s dream becomes reality, as three special people learn that it’s never too late to form a loving family.

Verna was a social worker for a lot of years. When she realized she wasn’t able to make a difference in that capacity any longer, she branched out and opened Someplace Like Home. The Home was a place where teenagers could come to reconcile with their families, or escape from them if needed. During a conference she was speaking at, Verna met Ronald, a high school counselor who wanted to donate his time to The Home.

Verna and Ronald are every attracted to each other. Verna holds back because of her commitment to The Home and because of her own past. When another complication crops up between them Verna’s reaction pushes Ronald futher away. While I understood her reasons, I did struggle with the way she went about it. The fact that Verna and Ronald both suffered from it lessened my pain somewhat.

Overall this was a good entry in the collection. I think it had the potential to be darker and more emotional, but the page count didn’t allow for full emotional impact. Even so, it was well done and I enjoyed reading not only the story, but about the charity that inspired it.

4 out of 5

In Jill Shalvis’s What the Heart Wants, an honorable man must learn to forgive himself to regain the trust of the dedicated teacher who is the love of his life.

Shalvis is always a favorite, as you know, but I think she does short stories extremely well. This was no exception. Jack and Ellie were good friends in high school. They lost touch afterward while Jack was in the military. Ellie is now a teacher who runs a program that teaches women how to be confident in themselves. Jack owns a martial arts studio and Ellie wants him to teach a self-defense class at her school.

It’s obvious these two care for each other, but Jack holds himself responsible for something that happened to Ellie when they were younger. Ellie thinks that’s ridiculous, but getting Jack to move on is proving tougher than she expected. I really liked how they were together. As I said, it was obvious they cared for each other. Their long-standing friendship really came through. I love friends-to-lovers themes.

Even more, I liked the parts that featured Ellie’s school and her students. I thought Shalvis portrayed the teens well and did a good job of showcasing why programs like Ellie’s – and the real life organization hers was modeled after, WET’s – are really needed.

Overall a sweet romance with an excellent message behind it.

4.25 out of 5

This is an excellent collection of stories put together for charity. I really enjoyed all three. Learning about the different organizations these authors chose to spotlight was heartwarming.

Overall Grade: 4.25 out of 5

There are also two additional stories available for free download at the Harlequin site. Be sure to check those out as well.

Harlequin More Than Words Free eBook - Daffodils in Summer

Harlequin More Than Words Free eBook - Worth the Risk

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

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What I Read Last Week

Posted June 13, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 8 Comments

Good morning!

Not much happened this past week until Saturday when some of the So Cal Bloggers got together. Wendy, Renee, Nikki, Judith and I met at Renee’s house and then moved over to the Covina Bookstore. For an independent bookstore it had a great romance section. We then went for lunch and then over to Barnes and Noble to check out their shelves. It was a lot of fun and always wonderful to see friends and talk BOOKS! lol I got some great recommendations from Renee and bought a book from a new-to-me author (whose name I can’t remember at the moment. lol). Here we are outside if B & N.

Diet and Exercise – Oy it’s gone to the dogs completely. I’m starting again today with being diligent about the exercise and eating right. I did get on the scale and am up a bit. I had lost a total of 4 pound – which has now only 2.4 *sigh* ah well – just goes to show I can’t fall off the wagon. This proves that left to my own devices I will eat the house. lol

Reading…(if only I was as good about exercise as I was about reading! lol)…it was a good week. I read some good stuff:

First up was Big Bad Beast by Shelly Laurenston. I really like Laurenston’s heroine’s and the men who love them. This story was about Dee-Ann who is one bad ass mofo who you do not want to mess with. Restaurant owner Ric wants nothing more than to mess with her in many different ways. The book is a combination of Rick and Dee-Ann’s relationship, a story of Dee-Ann and 2 others working on a case for The Unit that involves a dog-fighting type setup only with hybrids and a small story of Ric’s father who’s a complete bastard. It was a good story but I had some issues with it. You can read my review over at The Book Binge if you’re interested. 3.5 out of 5

Next was the novella Unlocked by Courtney Milan. What a great story! Evan had a thing for Lady Elaine Warren and wanted him to notice her. He went about it all wrong, however, and ended up making her someone that was laughed at and ridiculed and ended up making him feel like a horrible person. Evan leaves and doesn’t return for 10 years. He’s become a completely different person and would like nothing more than Elaine to forgive him. He knows this isn’t possible but it doesn’t stop him from trying. Such a great novella. Smexy’s review of this book is what got me hooked. 4.5 out of 5

More Than Words Volume 7 by Carly Phillips, Donna Hill and Jill Shalvis is a Harlequin anthology that has stories that are based on amazing women. Three really good stories make up this anthology and it’s just a fun romantic book. You can read my review here. 4 out of 5

Kathry, the Kitten by Lavinia Kent was my next read. This is a novella that starts The Real Duchesses of London series. This was the story of the Kathryn, the Duchess of Harrington, who seems to have the perfect life except she doesn’t actually sleep with her husband any longer. She loves him and wants him back in her bed. She asks a friend for help but there are many other things happening that Kathryn doesn’t know about. This was a great little novella and one I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ll post a review next week. 4 out of 5 (This is an Avon Impulse that releases on the 28th of this month)

After that I went on a little Anne Brooke spree with the Delaneys. I started off with The Delaneys and Me which is a story about Liam who breaks up with his boyfriend and says some things that put his ex-boyfriends cousins (The Delaneys who are crime bosses) hackles up. He knows he has to pay for what he’s said and what the Delaneys come up with is scary but doable. They tell him that he can get his balls shot off or have sex with them. Yeah, which one do you think he chose? lol This was a short story (35 pages) that was so cute. I really liked the writing and the humor in the story was right up my alley. Yes there are twins in the story but no twincest. 4 out of 5

Next was Entertaining the Delaneys by Anne Brooke. The twins are contacting Liam a few weeks after their first encounter and want Liam to entertain one of their guests. He’s up for it as long as the twins are involved. Again, a funny story that’s quite short (also 35 pages) and pretty darned hot. Same fun humor as the first story which I love. 4 out of 5

The third story in the Delaney series (so far) was The Art of the Delaneys by Anne Brooke. In this story (42 pages) Liam and his boss are helping the Delaneys with a little art scam their running. The twins and Liam get up to a little fun in the gallery and make some decisions about their strange but compelling relationship. Another cute story and I can’t wait to read what’s up next with the threesome. 3.75 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week was Seducing the Duchess by Ashley March. The story is about a duke who kidnaps his own wife. You see he married her for revenge and when she found out – the day after he wedding 3 years earlier – she decided to do everything she could to force the duke into divorcing her. She wasn’t actually as bad as rumor had it and despite her dislike of duke she couldn’t stop loving him. He’s decided he loves his wife and wants her back and with him only. I liked the story a lot but had some issues with the heroine. She wanted her freedom from the duke but it was because of the situation, at least that’s how I was reading it. But when they express their love for each other and he says he won’t divorce her she’s upset that she won’t have her freedom. Why would she still want it? 3.75 out of 5

Getting Off the Ground by LA Witt was a great novella that I very much enjoyed. Elliot is at the airport in Seattle waiting for the planes to get off the ground and in a freak blizzard. He’s going on his honeymoon to Hawaii by himself after he was stood up at the altar. He meets Derek in the airport who’s also heading to Hawaii but he lives on the islands. Derek and Elliot get to know each other and end up spending the night in a hotel room together that’s just amazing. But then it had to end because they’re going different places – or does it? I was little leery of Derek and Elliot’s getting together – even for a night – because of Elliot having just come out of this very long relationship where he was prepared to marry his partner. As the story moves on Witt explained Elliot and his ex-partners relationship in a way that I could accept Derek and Elliot together. I have the next book in the series or I might have been upset at the ending which was a bit abrupt. I’ll dig into book 2 this week. 4 out of 5

Collide by Megan Hart was my next read and it was so good! This book comes out on the 21st and I recommend it. The story of a woman who has the hots for an ex-independent film star-turned-artist-turned-gallery owner but he seems to not want to have anything to do with her. Then she starts having hallucinations about the man but it’s when he was 30 years younger. I’ll post my review this week and tell you more. 4.25 out of 5

Last on the list was a short novella I read for The Book Binge called When, Were and Howl by Jeanette Raleigh. This was the story of a woman who is a shifter but she turns into a mouse when she shifts – the rest of her family are wolf shifters – talk about different. She’s got it bad for her wolf shifter boss and wants more than anything to be able to shift to something besides a mouse. She gets an amulet that allows her to shift into a wolf but then she can’t get back to human. Is it all she’d hoped it would be? It was a cute story but left me hanging at the end of the story which I didn’t care for. I’ll probably read the next novelette just so I can see what happened! 3 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:

Big Bad Beast by Shelly Laurenston

Keeping House by Lee Brazil

Lady of Seduction by Laurel McKee

Happy Reading!

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Tagged: Anne Brooke, Ashley March, Carly Phillips, Courtney Milan, Donna Hill, Jeanette Raleigh, Jill Shalvis, LA Witt, Lavinia Kent, Megan Hart, Shelly Laurenston, So Cal Bloggers, The Book Binge, What I Read Last Week, What I've Been Reading This Week

Review: More Than Words, Volume 7 by Carly Phillips, Donna Hill & Jill Shalvis

Posted June 10, 2011 by Tracy in Reviews | 5 Comments

Each and every one of us has the ability to effect change—to make our world a better place. The dedicated women selected as this year’s recipients of Harlequin’s More Than Words award have changed lives, one good deed at a time. To celebrate their accomplishments, some of our bestselling authors have honored the winners by writing stories inspired by these real-life heroines.

We hope More Than Words inspires you to get in touch with the real-life heroine living inside of you.

In Carly Phillips’s Compassion Can’t Wait, two high school sweet hearts are reunited years later, as if by fate, and discover that if you believe in yourself and each other, anything is possible.

Donna Hill’s Someplace Like Home tells the story of how one woman’s dream becomes reality, as three special people learn that it’s never too late to form a loving family.

In Jill Shalvis’s What the Heart Wants, an honorable man must learn to forgive himself to regain the trust of the dedicated teacher who is the love of his life.

This was a great anthology made all the better because of the women who were behind the stories.

**The first story, Compassion Can’t Wait by Carly Phillips, is based on the work done by Valerie Sobel and her Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation. The foundation helps single mothers, who have children who are dying, pay bills and take care of financial issues so that the parent can be with their child in their time of need rather than having to work and be away from them.

The story itself is about Julia who is a social worker and decides to help a boy whose single mother is trying to deal with her other son who has leukemia. Julia knows that Michael has severe hero worship for Kyle Hansen, the start pitcher for the Miami Suns. Julia and Kyle were once high school sweethearts but due to many circumstances they took different paths and never talked to each other again. Knowing that Julia can put a little sunshine into Michael’s life she bites the bullet and seeks out Kyle’s assistance with Michael. When Kyle and Julia see each other again though, they each know that there are still deep feelings hidden within them for the other – but can they get past the hurt that they feel from the past and move on?

This was a great little story that I very much enjoyed reading. Phillips did a great job showing us the rekindling of Julia and Kyle’s romance but also the emotional aspect of Kyle dealing with Michael and what Michael was going through during this difficult time. A very heartwarming story.

**The second story, Someplace Like Home by Donna Hill, is based on the work that Nancy Abrams does with the Family Reconnect Program. The program helps try and reconnect runaways with their parents so that they can get back home or establish themselves with their family support.

The story was about a social worker, Verna, who had had enough of the system and decided to open Someplace Like Home – taking care of teens who have had problems in the system or cannot find a home. During a seminar Verna gives she connects with Ronald who is interested in volunteering at SLH. Eventually he begins to work at the home and Verna and Ronald begin to date. Only Ronald actually believes, after seeing one of the girls at the home, that she may actually be his daughter – one he had no clue he had. But Verna has mixed feelings about reuniting the daughter and father which puts a strain on Ronald and Verna’s relationship. Can they work through it.

This story was good as well but it didn’t click with me as much as the other two in the book. I loved what Someplace Like Home was doing with the kids and it really seemed to be working. Verna and Ronald’s relationship was good too although we were more told about it than shown. I really had an issue with Verna’s lack of trust in Ronald when it came to “claiming” his daughter. I understood that she had been hurt tremendously in the past by the mother that abandoned her and that it colored Verna’s thoughts – but I think that was my problem. Verna should have been more than happy to get even one child out of the system where they could find a loving parent. Knowing Ronald as she did she should have trusted him. It all worked out in the end but I can’t say I ended the book with a full smile on my face…just half a one. lol

**The third story ,What The Heart Wants by Jill Shalvis, is based on the work done by Victoria Pettibone and Sasha Eden with the WET Risk Takers program. The program is designed to bolster girls’ self–esteem, providing them with leadership tools, and valuable information on their health and well being.

The story tells us of a math teacher, Ellie, who starts a program called PIC (Powerful and in Charge). She helps teens try to see that they are powerful and they don’t have to be punching bags either verbally or emotionally and they can do anything they put their mind to. A fluke meeting puts Ellie and Jack – high school friends – back in touch. Ellie and Jack circle around each other and Ellie finds herself asking Jack for his assistance with PIC and having him teach the girls how to protect themselves through self-defense (that’s his business). The couple seem to be hitting it off but Jack is feeling mega guilt for something that happened back in high school with Ellie – nothing that was his fault at all. He’s also afraid of taking that major step toward the serious relationship.

This was probably my favorite story of the bunch. It was simple and straightforward – not too much angst and a lot of honesty which I love to read about in my romances. Jack was more than aware of Ellie – even when he hadn’t been in contact with her. Ellie, once she met up with Jack again, couldn’t seem to keep herself away from him. I really loved how Ellie just called Jack on things and never let him get away from the hard issues. This was a great story with romance as well as the help that both Jack and Ellie – and Ellie’s program – played in teens lives.

Rating: 4 out of 5

There are also 2 free stories on Harlequin.com by Meryl Sawyer and Pamela Morsi that are based on More Than Words recipients as well that you can read here.