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Tag: September 2015

Book Review: The Perfect Arrangement

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The Perfect Arrangement – Katie Ganshert – Year of Weddings 2 # 11 – Zondervan – Published 29 September 2015

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Synopsis

Meeting Nick was truly an accident—but Amelia finds that he’s one of the few people she can count on.

Amelia Woods is a small-town wallflower who inherited her grandmother’s flower shop. Despite her success in business, her love life has ground to a halt. And then her temptation to spy on her ex-boyfriend’s wedding leads her to a horrifying fender-bender—with Nick, the groomsman who happens to be her ex’s new brother-in-law.

Meanwhile, William, Amelia’s younger brother, has proposed to his girlfriend. Amelia would be excited except she has evidence that the fiancée is not who she says she is. How can she be supportive and yet be the protective big sister too? It seems Nick is the only one available for any advice-giving, and he’s pretty good at it—and pretty fun to talk to. Amelia and Nick continue online conversations about everything, but always lingering in Amelia’s mind is the fear that he’ll realize who she is and what she was doing at the church that day of the accident.

As Amelia works to craft the perfect flower arrangements for other people—including a ninety-year-old “fairy godmother” named George—she begins to wonder if real love is better than the dream. And if it is, will Nick still be interested when he learns who she is? 

My thoughts

The Perfect Arrangement is a sweet and highly enjoyable romance.

Amelia is well on the way to being an unmarried, crazy cat woman. And she’s pretty okay with that considering she is far more comfortable at home with a stack of old movies and Baxter, her cat, for company. So it stings a little knowing her ex (and only) boyfriend is getting married to someone else, which is why she just has to do a covert drive-by. And when her baby brother announces he’s going to marry the girl he has only known a few months, it has her worried, especially when she sees said fiancée with another guy. But really, she couldn’t be happier with her life as a florist. But Amelia can’t help falling a little for Nate (the guy she crashed her car into when doing aforementioned drive-by) when they connect via email. He is charming, funny and shares her love of old movies. There’s just one problem – Nate doesn’t know that they first met when Amelia was satisfying her curiosity about her ex-boyfriend’s wedding.

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New Book Releases September 2015

New Book Releases for September 2015

Here are the books due for release in September 2015 that have made it onto my to-read list. Click on the covers for detailed reviews.

Young Adult Fiction

Truest
 Truest – Jackie Lea Sommers – Katherine Tegen Books – Published 1 September 2015

This is an outstanding debut, charming, funny, unbelievably moving and a deep sort of soul searching.  

Silas Hart has seriously shaken up Westlin Beck’s small-town life. Brand new to town, Silas is different than the guys in Green Lake. He’s curious, poetic, philosophical, maddening– and really, really cute. But Silas has a sister– and she has a secret. And West has a boyfriend. And life in Green Lake is about to change forever.   Full review.

Young adult fiction: Contemporary.


Stray

Stray – Rachael Craw – Walker Books Australia – Published 1 September 2015

Book Two in the Spark series. Evie is a Shield: designed to kill in order to protect, and the Affinity Project have finally come for her. But Evie isn’t ready for the sinister organisation to take control of her life, her body, her mind. She isn’t ready to follow their rules about who may live and who must die – not when it condemns the innocent. She has one option: risk losing everything and everyone – including Jamie – and run.

Young adult fiction: Science-fiction.


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Book Review: The Weight of Feathers

Weight of Feathers

The Weight of Feathers – Anna-Marie McLemore – St. Martin’s Press Thomas Dunne – Published 15 September 2015

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Synopsis

For twenty years, the Palomas and the Corbeaus have been rivals and enemies, locked in an escalating feud for over a generation. Both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows—the Palomas swimming in mermaid exhibitions, the Corbeaus, former tightrope walkers, performing in the tallest trees they can find.

Lace Paloma may be new to her family’s show, but she knows as well as anyone that the Corbeaus are pure magia negra, black magic from the devil himself. Simply touching one could mean death, and she’s been taught from birth to keep away. But when disaster strikes the small town where both families are performing, it’s a Corbeau boy, Cluck, who saves Lace’s life. And his touch immerses her in the world of the Corbeaus, where falling for him could turn his own family against him, and one misstep can be just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the trees.

My thoughts

A bird may love a fish, but where would they live? Reading The Weight of Feathers was like entering another world, part fantasy, part dream-like childhood holiday and part small-town romance, with just a tiny bit of Shakespearan Romeo and Juliet thrown in for good measure. And yet it felt like something out of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was the perfect combination for an intriguing, magical and original novel. Absolutely breathtaking.

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Book Review: Last Chance Hero

Last Chance Hero

Last Chance Hero – Cathleen Armstrong – A Place to Call Home #4 – Revell – Published 15 September 2015

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Synopsis

The inhabitants of Last Chance, New Mexico, could not be more pleased. Dr. Jessica McLeod has opened an office right on Main Street. Andy Ryan, the best athlete the little town ever produced, has ended his short career in the NFL and has come home to coach the mighty Pumas of Last Chance High. Unfortunately, Dr. Jess immediately gets off on the wrong foot when she admits that she’s never seen a football game, isn’t really interested in doing so, and, in fact, doesn’t know a first down from a home run. Meanwhile, Coach Ryan is discovering that it’s not easy to balance atop the pedestal the town has put him on. When this unlikely pair is drawn together over the future of a young player–whose gifts may lie in the laboratory rather than on the football field–they begin to wonder if they might have a future together as well.

My thoughts

In Last Chance Hero readers are returned to the little New Mexico town of Last Chance, where the chilli is hot and football is everything. This was a fun and sweet contemporary romance.

Last Chance is everything Dr. Jess McLeod dreamed when she decided she wanted to open her own medical practice in a small town. She just wasn’t quite prepared for the everyone-knows-everyone reality of small-town life, nor how a non-football-loving, non-chilli-eating Californian female doctor would stand out like a sore thumb. But Jess isn’t the only new face in town. Andy Ryan, Last Chance native and local boy made good, has finished with his NFL career and has returned to coach the high school football team. Despite their obvious differences (namely indifference/love toward football), Jess and Andy form a fast friendship, but aren’t sure if they have what it takes to move their relationship to the next level or if their differences will keep them apart. 

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Book Review: Truest

Truest

Truest – Jackie Lea Sommers – Katherine Tegen Books – Published 1 September 2015

♥♥♥♥♥

Synopsis

Silas Hart has seriously shaken up Westlin Beck’s small-town life. Brand new to town, Silas is different than the guys in Green Lake. He’s curious, poetic, philosophical, maddening– and really, really cute. But Silas has a sister– and she has a secret. And West has a boyfriend. And life in Green Lake is about to change forever.

Truest-3

My thoughts

I initially picked this book up because of the cover. That gorgeous, beautiful cover that only gets more beautiful and more meaningful with every page I read. This is an outstanding debut, charming, funny, unbelievably moving and a deep sort of soul searching.

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