You’d think Polly Martin would have all the answers when it comes to love—after all, her grandmother is the famous syndicated advice columnist Miss Swoon. But after a junior year full of dating disasters, Polly has sworn off boys. Now she’s just trying to survive her summer job at Wild Waves western-themed water park (under the supervision of ex #3 Sawyer Holmes) and focus on herself for once. So Polly is happy when she finds out Grandma is moving in for the summer –think of all the great advice she’ll get.
But Miss Swoon turns out to be a man-crazy sexagenarian! How can Polly stop herself from falling for Xander Cooper, the suddenly-hot skateboarder who keeps showing up at Wild Waves, when Grandma is picking up guys at the bookstore and flirting with the dishwasher repairman? And why, despite her best intentions, does Polly keep letting boys get in the way of her relationship with her best friend Jane?

No advice column in the world can prepare Polly for what happens when Jane convinces her to go on a group camping trip with three too many ex-boyfriends and the tempting Xander. Polly is forced to face her feelings and figure out if she can be in love—and still be herself.

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OMG… What do you do when you work summer duty at a waterpark with your oh soooo cute ex boyfriend, have a mom who is a 5th grade teacher and in the summer takes a job at the local teen hangout serving greasy burgers and making lame jokes to all your friends, a 10 year old sister who is just you know… ten, a best friend who you are having trouble connecting with, another sort of friend who blogs about every wrong move you make – and then there is the geeky boy…. who really…. come to think of it…. isn’t so geeky any more.

I really (totally) loved this book.  It was light and refreshing.  This book takes you through one summer of happenings in Polly’s life and the paragraph I wrote above pretty much sums up what is going on.  Oh – but I didn’t mention the bulldog…. or the kiss…. yeah the kiss…..

I can’t tell you everything and give away the book but I can tell you if you are looking for a great YA read this is a good pick.  My only tiny thing I would mention is that the characters are mostly 17 years old and there is some underage drinking going on.  Other than that, I had moments I laughed out loud.  A fun read.

I received my copy from 1 Arc Tours

Read in its entirety in a car on the way home from Illinois

Waverly Sloan is a down-on-his-luck lawyer. But just when he’s about to hit rock bottom, he stumbles upon a business with the potential to solve all of his problems.

In Waverly’s new line of work, he comes to the aid of people in desperate need of cash. But there’s a catch. His clients must be terminally ill and willing to sign over rights to their life insurance policies before they can collect a dime. Waverly then finds investors eager to advance them thousands of dollars—including a hefty broker’s fee for himself—in exchange for a significant return on their investment once the clients take their last breath.

The stakes get higher when Waverly brokers the policy of the cancer-stricken wife of Lawrence Erickson, a high-powered lawyer who’s bucking to become the next U.S. Attorney General. When Waverly’s clients start dying sooner than they should, both Waverly and Erickson—who has some skeletons of his own to hide—are unwittingly drawn into a perilous web of greed, blackmail and murder.

I have read Pamela Samuels Young before when I was introduced to her by reading Murder On The Down Low.  Another enjoyable read, I was excited to have the opportunity to meet up with her again in Buying Time.  Except this time, I had better be packing a weapon as the territory is filled with high crime.

A fast paced thrill ride through interesting and well put together characters.  As the pages turn the plot thickens and I found myself reading as fast as the pace seemed to have been set by author Pamela Samuels Young. At times I couldn’t imagine what would happen next and at other times I was laughing out loud (this always gets looks form my husband).   was impressed that as the book came to a close no loose ends were left untied.   What we had was a neatly wrapped book that left me clinging to the words throughout the next few days and really thinking about the companies in the book.

I don’t read a lot of legal thrillers but when I find this genre with Pamela’s name attached to it I do not hesitate to pick it up.  Well written and enjoyable!

About Pamela Samuels Young

Corporate attorney Pamela Samuels Young has always abided by the philosophy that you create the change you want to see. Fed up with never seeing women or people of color depicted as savvy, hot shot attorneys in the legal thrillers she read, Pamela decided to create her own characters. Despite the demands of a busy legal career, Pamela accomplished her ambitious goal by rising at four in the morning to write before work, dedicating her weekends to writing and even spending her vacation time glued to her laptop for ten or more hours a day.

The Essence magazine bestselling author now has four fast-paced legal thrillers to show for her efforts: Every Reasonable Doubt (BET Books, February 2006), In Firm Pursuit (Harlequin, January 2007), Murder on the Down Low (Goldman House Publishing, September 2008) and Buying Time (Goldman House Publishing, November 2009). New York Times bestselling author Sheldon Siegel described Buying Time, Pamela’s first stand-alone novel, as a “deftly plotted thriller that combines the best of Lisa Scottoline and Robert Crais.”

Pamela has achieved a successful writing career while working as Managing Counsel for Labor and Employment Law for a large corporation in Southern California. Prior to that, she served as Employment Law Counsel for Raytheon Company and spent several years with the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers, LLP in Los Angeles. A former journalist, Pamela began her broadcasting career as a production assistant at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, where she was quickly promoted to news writer. To escape the chilly Detroit winters, she returned home to Los Angeles and worked at KCBS-TV as a news writer and associate producer.

My Amazon Rating

I received my copy through Pump Up Your Book

In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families,left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

I would say that is the best book I have read this year.  I have often enjoyed fiction stories that are entwined with a taste of non fiction as well and that is what we have here.  What a fascinating way to piece a story together!  Set in Seattle during World War II, Jamie Ford has based this book around the details of 1942 and the evacuation of all Japanese ancestry to camps featuring Henry as a young man of 12 years old as well as present age Henry in 1986.

From the very first page I fell in love with this story.  I am amazed how little I know of this time period and reading

about what happened to those of Japanese ancestry during the war really was heart wrenching.  I could imagine what it felt like to be separated from everything you knew – home, job, life, material possessions… all taken away.  All because of your heritage.  The characters in Keiko’s family were wonderfully created as loving and positive and they stayed a family through thick and thin.  They were portrayed the exact opposite of Henry’s family, and that is a large part of this story.

The Panama Hotel, which is featured in this book – still exists today as a tea house and the in the story, the articles that are mentioned to have been found in this hotel is true and you can go there even today and see many of the items on display.

I could go on and on RAVING about this book.  It is a wonderful read as well as a deep and intense look into our history.  Highly recommended for historical fiction fans as well as fans of light romance.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

What the Eldredge bestsellers Wild at Heart did for men, and Captivating did for women, LOVE & WAR will do for married couples everywhere. John and Stasi Eldredge have contributed the quintessential works on Christian spirituality through the experience of men and the experience of women and now they turn their focus to the incredible dynamic between those two forces.

With refreshing openness that will grab readers from the first page, the Eldredges candidly discuss their own marriage and the insights they’ve gained from the challenges they faced. Each talks independently to the reader about what they’ve learned, giving their guidance personal immediacy and a balance between the male and female perspectives that has been absent from all previous books on this topic.   They begin LOVE & WAR with an obvious but necessary acknowledgement:  Marriage is fabulously hard.  They advise that the sooner we get the shame and confusion off our backs, the sooner we’ll find our way through.

LOVE & WAR shows couples how to fight for their love and happiness, calling men and women to step into the great adventure God has waiting for them together. Walking alongside John and Stasi Eldredge, every couple can discover how their individual journeys are growing into a story of meaning much greater than anything they could do or be on their own.

♥          ♥         ♥        ♥        ♥        ♥         ♥        ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥

If you know me and have read my reviews, you would know that I do not like self-help books.  I just don’t.  I say this now as it may be easy to look at this book and label it self-help.  I want to clarify it is not.  What the Eldredges have so wonderfully packaged here within the pages is an important message on living your marriage well.  Yes – let’s get real, it is not always going to be the heart pounding romantic “I can’t wait for him to call” moments.  In fact those early days of the butterflies are hard to remember when the work hours are long, the bills are high, and lets face it – maybe you really havent connected in a while.  The Eldridges give a strong Biblical approach to marriage that was a refreshing look into what is true.

I have read both Wild At Heart by John Eldridge and Captivating by Stasi Eldridge.  Both, amazing writers. I knew when I seen this book that it would be one I would want to read and the joint efforts of this couple really paid off.  An honest and “tear down the walls and bare the truth” kind of book that at times had my laughing and at times thinking deeply about what I had just read.

My Amazon Review

I received my copy as part of a tour with Waterbrook Multnomah

On the surface, Lena Spencer appears to have it all. She and her wealthy husband Randall have two wonderful children, and they live a life of luxury. In reality, however, Lena finds that happiness is elusive. Randall is emotionally distant, her son has developed a drug habit, and her daughter is disgusted by her mother’s “overbearing behavior.” When Randall decides that he’s had enough of marriage counseling, he offers his wife an ultimatum: “Be grateful for all I’ve done for you or leave.” Lena, realizing that money can’t solve her problems and that her husband is no longer the man she married, decides to choose the latter.

It didn’t take many pages into this book to realize who Randall was and what he represented.  He was that guy that thinks that money is happiness and if you are his wife – you had just better smile and remember who brings in the paycheck.

(Pause here while I throw up)

When Lena leaves it all I am totally in a “You go girl!” mood.  Randall turned my stomach.  What I had thought was going to be a lighthearted fun book turned out to have more depth than I had anticipated.  Lena’s journey (and why not?  She had the money to do it!)  As Lena find that she does have self worth I found myself liking her more and more.

I enjoyed this book with its message of it is never too late.  I am a firm believer in a woman’s ability to take care of herself  and Lena, much like Tina Turner, learns in this book that there is a whole world waiting out there that does not require living under anyone’s thumb.

Jacqueline describes herself as an avid reader and lover of books, excellent cook, aspiring photographer (all the photos on this site were taken by Jacqueline) and world traveler. She lives in Northern California and, though she loves that city and all the friends she has there, she takes frequent breaks to fly off to foreign destinations.

Searching for Tina Turner, her first novel, was published by Grand Central Publishing in January 2010 — and, as you can imagine, she is thrilled!

MY AMAZON REVIEW

My review copy came from Hachette Book Group

What price will people pay to hold their homes and dreams together?

When Kate and Stuart Kinzler buy a run-down historic house in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they’re hoping their grand renovation project can rescue their troubled marriage. Instead, they discover that years ago their home was the scene of a terrible crime—and the revelation tips the balance of their precarious union.

When a mysterious man begins lurking around her yard, Kate, now alone, is forced to confront her home’s dangerous past. Hers is not the only life that has crumbled under this roof. This man’s family also disintegrated here, as the result of one brief act of rage that may haunt him—and this house—for years to come.

I was hooked to this book by the cover at first sight…. and the title with the eerie letters reflecting in the water.  When I read what the book was about I was sold out interested.  A mystery!  A murder mystery!  A ghost story even!  Yet who are the ghosts in this ghost story?  Lingering pasts of Stuart and Kate…. dashed hops and dreams, ghosts of a marriage they once had – or dreamed they had?  Possibly.  Not the ghosts I had envisioned, but ghosts all the same.

The prologue was a bit much for me and if the book would have been based off those first few eighteen pages I probably would not have been able to finish the book.  The character of Claire I found to be extremely unlikable and desensitized.  My stomach actually lurched at what the book described.

and then we move on to 2005… and with the story of Stuart and Kate comes a sigh of relief from me.  I like them.  I like Kate’s dreams for the house and I can relate to that.  As Kate remodels and remodels I start to wonder what is she really trying to fix?  As Valerie Laken brings the pieces of this story as well as the characters together for a story that kept me turning the pages.

And really – what home, what person, doesn’t have a few ghosts?

About Valerie

Born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Valerie Laken has lived and worked in Moscow, Russia; Prague, Czechoslovakia; Krakow, Poland; Madison, Wisconsin; Iowa City, Iowa; and Ann Arbor, Michigan. She received an MA in Slavic Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan.

Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, the Chicago Tribune, Michigan Quarterly Review, the Alaska Quarterly Review, the Antioch Review, and Meridian. Her honors include a Pushcart Prize, the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize, two Hopwood Awards, and an honorable mention in The Best American Short Stories.

Her first novel, Dream House, was inspired by her own experience buying and remodeling a home in which a murder had occurred.

Laken has taught at the University of Michigan and Carthage College, and is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where she teaches creative writing.

Visit Valerie Laken’s website.

My Amazon Review

I received my review copy from TLC book Tours