Tuesday, June 28, 2011

16 Lighthouse Road by: Debbie Macomber Review

Description via Goodreads:
Dear Reader,

You don't know me yet, but in a few hours that's going to change. I'm inviting you to my town of Cedar Cove because I want you to meet my family, friends and neighbors. Come hear their stories--maybe even their secrets! My secrets are pretty open. My marriage failed years ago, and I have a rather...difficult relationship with my daughter.

Then there's my mother, Charlotte, who has plenty of opinions and is always willing to share them. I'm a family court judge and she likes to drop in on my courtroom. Recently I was hearing a divorce petition. In Charlotte's view, Cecilia and Ian Randall hadn't tried hard enough to make their marriage work--and I agreed.

I rendered my judgment: Divorce Denied. You wouldn't believe the reaction! Thanks to an article by Jack Griffin, the editor of our local paper (a man I wouldn't mind seeing more of!), everyone's talking. Cedar Cove--people love it and sometimes they leave it, but they never forget it!

Olivia Lockhart
My Review:

This story follows the lives of Charlotte, Olivia Lockhart, Jack Griffin, Olivia's children, and a couple unsure of where they are at Cecilia and Ian Randall. Olivia decides that the couple have not tried to make their marriage work. Ian wants it to work and Cecilia just wants to be free from what happened to her daughter. Olivia also finds herself going closer to Jack Giffin a new editor in town. Charlotte finds herself feeling depressed when she paid little attention to a new Tom Harding an elderly man who grew a bond to Charlotte.

She learns after his death that he was a famous actor from when she was young. She takes the time to find out what to do with his things as he intrusted her with a key to his storage locker which carries all sorts of things associated with his past as an actor. Olivia's daughter Justine who lost her twin brother Jordan as a teenager has taken up with an older man Warren with whom they have no sexual relationship, and during preparing for a high school reunion and old friend comes back from the past Seth. Who admits he has been pining for her ever since they were kids.

Olivia's son James has recently learned his new wife is pregnant, and so there is joy taking place as they prepare for a baby. Olivia's hope is that her daughter will be with someone that will make her happy and that she truly loves.

Grace learns that her husband has taken up with another woman and has left her with no answers to any questions she seeks. So with no other offer insight she files for divorce, after her daughter Kelly has a baby. Kelly begs her mother to wait for the birth before filing for divorce. After the baby is born Grace files for divorce.
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204 Rosewood Lane by: Debbie Macomber Review

Description via Goodreads:
Grace Sherman
204 Rosewood Lane
Cedar Cove, Washington

Dear Listener,
If you've been to Cedar Cove before we've probably met. You can usually find me either at home or at the public library, where I work. I've lived in this town all my life and raised two daughters here. But my husband and I - well, about six months ago, he disappeared. Just…disappeared. Where's Dan? Why did he go? Who's he with? Will I ever find out?

My hometown, my family and friends, bring me comfort during this difficult time. Comfort and a sense of shelter. I'm continually reminded that life can and does go on. For instance, everyone's been discussing weddings and babies lately. Justine - the only daughter of my best friend, Olivia Lockhart - impulsively got married a little while ago. My own daughter Kelly recently had a baby. Unfortunately, she refuses to accept that Dan might not return to see his first grandchild. My older daughter, Maryellen, is more realistic. I think she's seeing a new man, but for some reason she won't tell me who it is.

Then there's Jack, who's been pursuing a romance with Olivia, and his son, Eric, and Eric's girlfriend, Shelly (I think she's pregnant), and Zach and Rosemary Cox, whose marriage is reputedly on the skids and…Well, just come on over and we'll talk!

Grace
My Review:

This book pretty much picks up where 16 Lighthouse Road left off. Justine is adapting to married life while Seth is in Alaska fishing. Having spent the weekend together after they got married. Grace is just filing her divorce paperwork. She ends up meeting a relative of Tom Harding, when their credit cards accidentally get switched while eating separate dinners at a local restaurant. Olivia is finding relationships tricky when kids come calling to their parents. And Grace finds alot is hard when going through a divorce. Grace learns more about her husband then she ever knew when he was with her. What she perceived to be another woman was something entirely different. How will Grace manage what she has recently learned?
A great read for those looking for romance, and humor and general fiction.
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Chasing Amanda by: Melissa Foster Review




Nine years ago, Molly Tanner witnessed a young girl’s abduction in the busy city of Philadelphia, shifting her occasional clairvoyance into overdrive. Two days later, the girl’s body was found, and Molly’s life fell apart. Consumed by guilt for not acting upon her visions, and on the brink of losing her family, Molly escaped the torturous reminders in the city, fleeing to the safety of the close-knit rural community of Boyds, Maryland. Molly’s life is back on track, her son has begun college, and she and her husband have finally rekindled their relationship. Their fresh start is shattered when a seven-year-old girl disappears from a local park near Molly’s home. Unable to turn her back on another child and troubled by memories of the past, Molly sets out to find her, jeopardizing the marriage she’d fought so hard to hold together. While unearthing clues and struggling to decipher her visions, Molly discovers another side of Boyds, where the residents--and the land itself--hold potentially lethal secrets, and exposes another side of her husband, one that threatens to tear them apart.
 My Review:


This book was captivating and very intriguing wondering if Molly would be able to solve the missing pieces. Like what happened to Rodney Letts and what secrets the minister held inside her.  What made the Boyd house so secretive that no one was allowed in.  What secrets Hannah held close to her chest.  And who took Tracey and what happened so many years ago with Kate another kidnapped victim and did Rodney hold the secrets or was he to blame.  I applaud how Molly was able to percever when she had doubts when she witnessed a girl go missing and turned up dead.  The woman who took Tracey somewhere deep down thought she was doing what she was taught.  She had very much a Stockholm syndrome going on, which brought her to her own turmoil.  Molly and Cole suffer their own issues wishing they could have done more for Amanda and in some ways I believe that is what made this book so captivating.  Tracey has no connection to Molly but yet Molly is so determined to help her, I think it was in a way someone she could help when she felt her "knowing" failed her when she needed it the most.  Rodney and Molly even have an interesting connection both being born with abilities to know what is happening to someone else.  The two abilities connected together help prove that sometimes psychics know what they are doing.  A great story full of so much love and admiration towards family that I can't wait to read Megan's Way.
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Sunday, June 26, 2011

It's Monday What Are You Reading?


It's Monday What are you Reading? Is a weekly bookish meme where we get together to share what books we've read in the past week, what books we're currently reading and what new books we're planning on reading in the coming week along with any reviews or interesting posts. It's hosted by Sheila @One Person's Journey through a World of Books

Just Finished Reading:
Megan's Way by: Melissa Foster
16 Lighthouse Road by: Debbie Macomber
204 Rosewood Lane by: Debbie Macomber


Currently Reading:
Black Widow and The Sandman by: L.L. Reaper
Huber Hill and the Dead Man's Treasure by: B.K. Bostick
The Secret Life Of CeeCee Wilkes by: Diane Chamberlain

Come back next week and see what I've read!
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Saturday, June 25, 2011

Guest Post by: Melissa Foster Character Development


Character Development: Who are these people, and how did they get in my head?

Characters come to writers in many different ways. Some writers have a general idea of who their characters are before they start writing, while others, like me, usually know who one or two characters will be, and the others make themselves known as the story progresses—showing themselves as forces to be reckoned with that cannot be ignored. It doesn’t matter when during the writing process you develop your characters, what matters is that they are fully developed.

Readers want to get to know your characters, to love or hate them, feel their pain, and delight in their joy. In order to create that bond, they have to know more than what color hair and eyes the characters have or what clothing they wear. Characters should have backgrounds, hopes, secrets, flaws, families, and goals. The more three dimensional your characters are, the more believable they will be.

When developing characters, try to involve all the senses. Does your character smell funny, pretty, gross? Is their skin soft as a lamb’s ear or rough as sand paper? Is their voice annoyingly nasal or is it raspy, sending your stomach into spirals every time you hear them speak?

I keep notes about my characters detailing their looks, backgrounds, hopes for the future, where I think they’re headed in the story (which changes along the way), their style, and their  quirks. No one wants to read about perfect characters—people aren’t perfect. So dig deep when you create your characters and look for, and expose, the flaws.


Megan's Way Review

Description via Goodreads:

What would you give up for the people you love?

When Megan Taylor, a single mother and artist, receives the shocking news that her cancer has returned, she'll be faced with the most difficult decision she's ever had to make. She'll endure an emotional journey, questioning her own moral and ethical values, and the decisions she'd made long ago. The love she has for her daughter, Olivia, and her closest friends, will be stretched and frayed.

Meanwhile, fourteen-year-old Olivia's world is falling apart right before her eyes, and there's nothing she can do about it. She finds herself acting in ways she cannot even begin to understand. When her internal struggles turn to dangerous behavior, her life will hang in the balance.

Megan's closest friends are caught in a tangled web of deceit. Each must figure out how, and if, they can expose their secrets, or forever be haunted by their pasts.

My Review:

This book was given to me via the author for a honest and fair review, and part of her summer tour promoting the book which will be made into a movie. We open up learning something about Olivia and Megan. Megan is suffering from Cancer and knows her time is running out. She tries to deal with it best she can not always sure she is making the right choice. She starts out trying to distance herself from her daughter knowing that it would make it easier when she was no longer around. Olivia hates this idea, she was so close to her mother before the Cancer struck her why is her mother pushing her out now? Megan holds deep secrets that impact her friends and family, and keeps them hidden away until she is no longer around to answer the heated questions.

Oh my gosh what a great book, with everyone holding secrets of their own. Holly hiding a deep secret from both Megan and Jack. Jack and Megan with their secret from Holly. Megan with her own secret from everyone including her daughter until it was too late. Even Olivia has her own secret. I love how they each tried to honor Megan in their own way. Definitely a book I would recommend to anyone looking for a great in depth book of mother and daughter and close friends.
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