The Faces & Places Behind The Art...Part 2

As we left Toronto, we wound our way down through upstate New York including a visit to Niagara Falls.  It was a beautiful, peaceful part of the journey which would have been relaxing if we had taken time to enjoy the scenery.  Instead, we watched it through car windows as we worked our way into Massachusetts.

This part of the country is filled with history...literary & otherwise.  Our first stop in Massachusetts was Amherst.  It seems that something about Amherst in particular develops or attracts children's authors.

 In fact, there is an entire museum dedicated to children's books there.  At The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art we got an up close look at a Very Hungry Caterpillar...

And got "Seriously Silly" with Mo Willems and his characters (Knuffle Bunny is my favorite!)










The absolute highlight of this stop was spending an afternoon with Norton Juster & hearing him tell stories from his life & experience as an author.  The Phantom Tollbooth is one of Jacob's all time favorite books. Somehow, I missed this book during my childhood, but reading it as an adult showed me that it has a magical appeal for kids of all ages!  If you haven't read it...I highly recommend that you correct that as soon as possible!

On the way out of Amherst, we took a step away from modern children's literature to get a glimpse into history as we drove by the former home of Emily Dickinson.  It is now a museum that was closed the day we were there.  Robert Frost also had a home in the area, but we had plans to meet up with a friend & ran out of time, so we didn't get to see it.











After Amherst, we spent a week in Plymouth.  It was amazingly old & beautiful...and the first time on the trip that I got to walk on the beach! While in Plymouth, we took a train over to Boston for the day, where we walked through history down the freedom trail, and took a ride on the T (the oldest subway system in America) to Harvard for my literary stop of the day.

On the drive to Plymouth, I had convinced Jacob to put on the audio version of one of my new favorite books,  Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park, which is set in Boston.

Naturally, we had to take a walk through Harvard Square. We tried our first (and probably last!) Dunkin Donuts Coolatta to really feel in the moment.

Unfortunately, our stop fell two weeks before the release party for Jessica's latest book, so we didn't get to meet her. However, I felt a little bit of a connection when she posted this picture to her facebook page not too long after I sent her the one above.










Realizing that we had missed a stop we had planned & that it didn't add much time to our trip, we traveled back across Massachusetts to Springfield to see the Dr. Seuss Memorial Sculpture Garden, and it was absolutely worth the trip!

After our detour to Springfield, we moved on to The Big Apple, where we spent most of our time in Brooklyn with an old college friend of Jacob's.  Then we backtracked a little to visit Sleepy Hollow.  Unfortunately, due to a technological malfunction, we lost our picture of the headless horseman statue, but here are a few examples of the beauty that inspired the legend along with Washington Irving's grave.

Our next destination was one that I had been wanting to visit for several years...Boonsboro, MD.  If you aren't a Nora Roberts fan, you probably have never heard of this tiny town.  She has a couple of different author personas & writes in several different genres, but I'm mainly a fan of her trilogies...especially those with a hint of the paranormal.  Her latest complete series is the Inn Boonsboro Trilogy...set in her actual hometown.  It was the perfect opportunity to step into a story because the series is based fairly closely on the real town.  If you are a fan of Nora's, it's possible you'll recognize these locations!

 

The surprising part was that about halfway through our trip, Nora announced that she was doing a signing in Boonsboro for the anniversary of Turn The Page, her husband's bookstore...and it just happened to be scheduled for the weekend that we were already planning to go.

And the next day, she was having a brunch for a group of around 50 fans at her son's restaurant. I was one of the lucky ones who was able to get a ticket before they sold out!  So, I got the chance to hang out with her along with a group of fun ladies and chat about books, and Jacob was happy to avoid the Nora mania while enjoying a quiet pizza at Vesta.

Fun Fact:  At the signing, we mentioned to Nora that we were on a journey around the eastern half of the US.  She asked me what I was going to do for my husband since he was patient enough to come to her signing with me.  I told her that we had started the trip at a convention where we met George R. R. Martin.  Her mouth just dropped open in surprise.  We didn't have much time to talk during the signing, but when she came to my table during brunch, she remembered me & took a few minutes to gush Game of Thrones love.  It was a lot of fun to see one author getting giddy & fangirly over another author!

Speaking of being fangirly...I had imagined getting this picture from the moment we decided we were going to Boonsboro.  My wonderfully accommodating husband took direction without actually realizing until after the fact that the door on the front of the book I was holding was the door I was sitting in front of. 










As we worked our way down the east coast, we got to enjoy the beauty & history of Washington DC as well as the beaches of North Carolina. While on the NC Coast, we stopped in for a quick visit at New Bern, the hometown of Nicholas Sparks.  It's a quaint little waterfront town that also happens to be the birthplace of Pepsi!  It turns out, they also decorate their fire hydrants....which was probably my favorite part of the town!

But the beautiful beaches that I had pictured while reading his books were a little further down the coast....

Finally, on our way back west, we were able to sneak in one last signing during my birthday week!  While in Charlotte, NC, we met Aprilynne Pike.  I picked up her book Wings several years ago off of the Target shelf because the cover was pretty & I needed a new book to read, and was pulled into her world of faeries & trolls.  If you like YA stories & haven't heard of her, check out this series.  It's a lot of fun.  She just started a new series with her book Earthbound.

From North Carolina, we worked our way back home to Arkansas.  Even though our journey had officially come to an end, I heard about a signing in Memphis, TN coming up a couple of weeks later...and after three months on the road, a 2 hour road trip seemed like nothing!  So, we took a day trip to meet Tracey Garvis Graves on her Covet release tour.  It was a fairly small event, so I got to chat with Tracey a little more than some of the other authors I met along the way.  She was very sweet & seeing her shout out to me on Facebook that evening completely made my day...and was the perfect ending to my author/book tour of 2013.

Lingerie Wars (Invertary #1) by Janet Elizabeth Henderson

From Amazon.com

Englishman Lake Benson loaned his life savings to his dippy sister so that she could buy a shop. It was a big mistake. His sister has been steadily flushing his money down the drain - and now he wants it back. Years in the special forces taught Lake that if you want a job done, do it yourself. So he steps in to make the shop profitable, sell it and get his money back. The only problem is, the business is an underwear shop. And all Lake knows about underwear can be summed up in how fast he can unsnap a bra. To make matters worse, the tiny highland town already has a lingerie shop. A successful one, run by an ex-lingerie model. A very gorgeous ex-lingerie model, who's distracting him from his mission more than he'd like to admit. If Lake wants to get his savings back, and get out of Scotland, he only has one option - wipe out the competition.

Kirsty Campbell has spent years rebuilding her life after she woke up in hospital in Spain to find her body scarred, and her ex-fiance had run off with all her money. The last thing she needs is a cocky, English soldier-boy trying to ruin all she has left. Her home town is only too happy to help her fight the latest English invasion, although Lake is beginning to sway them with his sex appeal and cut price knickers. With the help of her mother, and the retired ladies of Knit or Die, Kirsty sets about making sure that her shop is the last one standing in Invertary.

It's Scotland versus England as you've never seen it before. It's lingerie war.

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***ARC provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I requested this book from netgalley based on the recommendation of a friend & fellow blogger, Mia from Wine, Books & Fringe.  Before this, I hadn't heard of Janet Elizabeth Henderson, but I am definitely going to have to check out her other books to see if they are anything like this one.

Lingerie Wars is the story of two failing lingerie stores in a town that is questionably big enough for one and the battle to determine which will survive.  Kirsty Cambell was once a famous lingerie model, but her life was changed drastically when she woke up in the hospital to find that she had been in a car accident & that her body (which at the time was her business) was irreparably damaged.  She also found that the man that she loved had left her to die & disappeared with all of her money.  She returns to her hometown, Invertary, Scotland, with as many scars inside as outside & tries to pull her life back together by opening a lingerie shop.  There is already a lingerie shop in Invertary, but "Betty's Knicker Emporium" is no competition.

Lake Benson is the son of hippie parents.  He grew up in a commune with his parents & his siblings, Rainne (Rainbow), River & Brooke (I will admit that it took me a little bit to get used to reading these names...especially the name Lake for a man...but after a few chapters, I just went with it!).  Opposed to just about everything that his parent believed in, he signed up for the military and moved away as soon as he was old enough.  In an effort to help his sister, Rainne, he bought a lingerie shop in Invertary for her to run.  He hoped it would pull her out of the commune mindset & teach her to stand on her own.  When the shop was continuing to lose money after six months, he decides to go to Invertary to see if he can recoup his losses & sell the shop.  When he gets to town, he finds that there are several reasons that the business is failing.  First, there is the fact that Betty's Knicker Emporium came with a convoluted contract...and Betty...a headstrong old woman with opinions to spare. Then there is the competition...


It took me a few chapters to get into this story, but once I did, I really enjoyed it.  The characters were all flawed in some way...some more than others, but I loved how they supported each other.  Even in the midst of "war", Kirsty & Lake couldn't really avoid helping each other.  The best character, in my opinion, was Betty.  She was ridiculous...which made her fun.  I loved her sassy/spunky comments & how she never really listened to anyone, yet always knew what was going on & didn't think twice about giving her advice.  After Betty, there were the Knit or Die ladies...they were a mess, but equally fun.  I kept picturing Invertary as a town that was full of crazy, old ladies.


I don't really know how to describe this story....the basic plot is fairly predictable & formulaic.  You know what is going to happen when it starts, but what sells it is how it gets there.  It's a fast-paced story that was well-written & funny.  It reminded me a little of books that I have read by Jennifer Crusie.  Even if you know where the story is going, you can't help but enjoy the ride!

If you are looking for a light-hearted, fun story...definitely give this one a try!  I'll be watching for book two, Goody Two Shoes, which is scheduled to be released later this year.

Barely Breathing (The Breathing Series #2) by Rebecca Donovan

 From Amazon.com

"I've spent most of my life trying to make it to a future that still hasn't happened, or avoid a past that won't let me go. I don't remember when I've ever just stopped to live in the present, to hold on to the seconds I'm in."

Emma Thomas’s struggle with an abusive home life came to a heart-pounding conclusion in the final chapters of Reason to Breathe, the first installment of The Breathing Series— Rebecca Donovan’s bestselling romantic-thriller (USA Today). Now her secret life has been exposed, and her tormentor can’t hurt her anymore. Yet some are still haunted by that night. The bruises may have faded, but scars and fears, remain. How will she reclaim her life when she's barely breathing?

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**SPOILER Warning** While I try my hardest not to include spoilers in my reviews, this is the second book in the series & it would be hard to discuss this book without referencing events from the first book.  If you are new to The Breathing Series, then you might not want to read further.

Well...book two down & I'm still not sure what I think of this series.  Barely Breathing takes place a few months after Reason to Breathe.  Carol has gone to prison & Emma has moved in with Sara & her family.  However, in a not fully explained to my satisfaction whim, Emma decides to move in with her estranged mother.  Their relationship has never been good due to the fact that Rachel was an alcoholic.  In the past few months, Rachel has made a bit of an effort to get to know Emma & has sworn that she is sober.  So, Emma decides to move in with her in order to try to reconnect before she leaves for college.

What I discovered in this book is that Emma really is the perfect victim.  She has been trained to be accommodating at all costs...especially if she thinks that the cost is only to her.  She lies to those she loves to cover for the ones who use and abuse her, and puts herself in situations where she is easily taken advantage of.  I found it really hard to root for her in this book as I watched her make the same mistakes time & time again.

Where the overall story was as compelling as the first one was, I had a harder time connecting with any of the characters.  In Reason to Breathe, my heart really went out to Emma because she was in circumstances beyond her control & really felt that the choices she made (as misguided as they may have been) were for the best for her cousins.  I'm not sure what is her driving force in Barely Breathing.  Hurt by Emma choosing to leave her & move in with Rachel, Sara is distant throughout large sections of the book and when we do see her, she is usually in full on party girl mode, and while Emma is dealing with her not-so-sober mother, Evan is off on skiing weekends in Tahoe or Hawaiian vacations with his brother making him not only absent but also unrealistic (at least in the world I live in!).  Then we meet Jonathan, the compelling yet forbidden new man in Emma's life and the story takes several expected as well as unexpected twists & turns.

While this isn't an overly positive review, I have to say that Rebecca Donovan's writing style is enticing.  She draws you into Emma's world of confusion and pain & somehow makes you want to stay there.  It is quite possible that a lot of the negative feelings I walk away from these books with are because they are not happy, feel good stories...and they definitely don't end well!  In my opinion, cliffhangers are evil, manipulative, yet effective tools.  I didn't feel good after finishing either book, but not reading the next one wasn't even an option.  After reading Reason to Breathe and Barely Breathing back to back (with a tiny break to devour Colleen Hoover's fantastic novella Finding Cinderella!), I took a few days away from the angst to read a more light-hearted/fun book, but now, I'm ready to dive into Out of Breath and hope that Emma is finally able to save herself...from herself!

Finding Cinderella (A Hopeless Novella) by Colleen Hoover

From Amazon.com

A chance encounter in the dark leads eighteen-year-old Daniel and the girl who stumbles across him to profess their love for each other. But this love comes with conditions: they agree it will only last one hour and it will only be make-believe.
When their hour is up and the girl rushes off like Cinderella, Daniel tries to convince himself that what happened between them only seemed perfect because they were pretending it was perfect. Moments like that with girls like her don’t happen outside of fairytales.

One year and one bad relationship later, his disbelief in insta-love is stripped away the day he meets Six: a girl with a strange name and an even stranger personality. Daniel soon realizes the way he pretended to feel about Cinderella and the way he really feels about Six may not be so different after all. Especially when the two loves of his life end up being one in the same.


Unfortunately for Daniel, finding Cinderella doesn’t guarantee their happily ever after…it only further threatens it.

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I don't even know where to start...this story was everything I was hoping for & more!  If you haven't read Hopeless & Losing Hope, you can still read and follow this story.  You just won't already know the characters & their back stories.  This is Daniel & Six's story.  You also get to see a glimpse of Sky, Holder & Breckin.  All of these characters were introduced in either Hopeless, or Losing Hope.  Since this was a thank you gift from Colleen Hoover to her fans, she doesn't waste time explaining who the characters are.  She just dives right in letting Daniel tell us the story that he hinted at in the last chapter of Losing Hope.

Daniel has spent the last year thinking about...or trying not to think about a girl he met in a dark closet over a year ago.  He refers to her as his Cinderella because she stumbled into his life & left just as mysteriously.  He has no idea who she is or if he'll ever see her again.  All he knows is that he felt the closest he ever has to love during that one hour of make-believe.

When he meets Six one night at Sky's house, he feels an immediate & unexplainable connection.   This is where the story really takes off.  Daniel & Six are both delightful characters.  I always thought Six got a little cheated in Hopeless because she is introduced at the beginning of the book & then disappears, only to be referred to by text periodically.  I never really felt closure with her story, but this novella gave me exactly that.  We got to see Daniel throughout Losing Hope, but every scene he was in made me want more of him.  He is un-apologetically inappropriate...never calls people by the right name...and charming enough to get away with it.  When Colleen announced that she was writing a novella about the two of them, I was thrilled & she didn't disappoint.  They may be my favorite of her couples so far....(though I do really love Lake & Will!...and Holder & Sky are great too...and we can't forget Eddie & Gavin...)

At 121 pages, Finding Cinderella is longer than I would have expected for a novella, but still not long enough!  You can't help wanting it to not end!  If you haven't ever read Colleen's work before then this may be the perfect way to start.  It's short & free!  You have nothing to lose!  If you have read her other books, then I have no doubt that you'll want to grab this ASAP.  It isn't officially released until Monday.  So, if you happen to read this in the next day & half...go to colleenhoover.com to find out how to get it today!

The Faces & Places Behind The Art

My husband & I are both book lovers. . .which really helps us understand each other's need to have long, uninterrupted time with our book of the moment.  We have each spent the better part of the past decade working dead-end jobs that paid the bills, but did little to inspire us.  We grabbed what life we could by escaping into books and movies and taking as many vacations as our budget would allow.  This year, we decided to make some serious changes in the direction our life was going.  We quit our jobs & took to the road to see parts of the country that we had previously only heard about.  We knew living on only our savings for a time would be a challenge, but we also knew that it was something we had dreamed about as long as we had known each other & decided it was now or never.

Our love of books became quickly evident as we started planning the direction of our journey.  We were picking places that we had read about, places where we knew authors had lived & drawn inspiration from & best of all, places were authors we loved were actually going to be.  Knowing our budget wouldn't allow for many souvenirs, we decided to save our money for things that couldn't be bought just anywhere and ended up returning home with a collection of new books...most of which were signed by the author. :)

I thought I'd share with you a few of the people & places we were blessed enough to visit along our way.

In January (technically before our journey began, but in anticipation!) we drove to Dallas to meet Tammara Webber, Colleen Hoover & Jamie McGuire.

Pictured (L to R)

Jamie McGuire - author of Beautiful Disaster,  
     Walking Disaster, the Providence series &
     most recently Red Hill (which I haven't read yet!)
Colleen Hoover - author of the Slammed series,
     Hopeless, & Losing Hope
Tammara Webber - author of the Between The 
     Lines series & Easy

Along with the hundreds of fans who joined me in the crowd!



 
**Most memorable moment....Watching the ABC nightline report that was filmed during the signing & seeing....me! on TV!  Out of all of the people that posed for pictures with Colleen, I was the one that actually made the cut.  So random!

In May, we got to meet two of my husband's favorite authors....

First...Patrick Rothfuss - author of  The Name of 
          the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear

Second...George R. R. Martin - author of The 
              Song of Ice & Fire series (better
              know as Game Of Thrones)









After that, we moved into June & our adventure truly began.  Our next few stops were to visit friends & family, but as we worked our way through Missouri, we stopped for a quick visit to Hannibal...the boyhood home of Mark Twain...where of course we had to take in a beautiful view of the Mighty Mississippi.

We traveled on through Illinois & the Windy City working our way to Ann Arbor, Michigan where my husband (who is much more athletically ambitious than me!) had signed up to run a marathon.  As we entered town, I started seeing exit signs for Ypsilanti.  The book nerd in me got excited & had to go the couple of extra miles to get this picture....

Our next stop on the literary trail led us to the site of a book turned movie...The Shawshank Redemption.  I haven't actually read the story the film is based on, but I hear this is one of the rare occurrences where the film actually improves the story. 

Either way...the Ohio State Reformatory (where the film was shot) was an awe inspiring, creepy experience that I would recommend if you ever find yourself near Mansfield, Ohio.













After the ghost tour at the Reformatory, we moved on to Chagrin Falls, Ohio...a tiny town in northeast Ohio that is built around the falls which give the town its name.

 






Chagrin Falls was once the home of Bill Watterson & inspired many of the images in his Calvin & Hobbes comic strips. 












As June was coming to a close, we crossed the border into Canada for a week.

Though I don't know of any authors from Toronto or books set there, I did get the chance to visit with Liis...who I had the privilege of meeting at the signing in Dallas in January.  She is one of the most enthusiastic book lovers that I have ever met, and definitely a champion for independent authors.  We had a great time visiting with her & chatting about some of our favorite books. Check out her blog here...Liis' Bookshelf!

Stay tuned for pictures from the second half of the journey!!  

Coming soon....

Reason to Breathe (The Breathing Series #1) by Rebecca Donovan

From Amazon.com 

"No one tried to get involved with me, and I kept to myself. This was the place where everything was supposed to be safe and easy. How could Evan Mathews unravel my constant universe in just one day?"

In the affluent town of Weslyn, Connecticut, where most people worry about what to be seen in and who to be seen with, Emma Thomas would rather not be seen at all. She’s more concerned with feigning perfection—pulling down her sleeves to conceal the bruises, not wanting anyone to know how far from perfect her life truly is. Without expecting it, she finds love. It challenges her to recognize her own worth―at the risk of revealing the terrible secret she’s desperate to hide.

One girl’s story of life-changing love, unspeakable cruelty, and her precarious grasp of hope: Reason to Breathe is the first installment of the acclaimed Breathing Series. 

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I picked up this book because it had been recommended to me wholeheartedly by several people that I met at a book signing earlier this year, and because I had seen more rave reviews on this series than I can count. From the synopsis, I knew it wouldn't be a happy story so I delayed reading it for months, but something kept pulling it to the top of my list so I decided to finally give it a chance.

Having just finished it, I'm still reeling.  I decided to write down my initial reaction while I was processing, but words are lost in the sadness & anger.  I wanted to love this book along with everyone else, & part of me does...but another part of me is hurting too badly to accept the love I might otherwise feel.

I went in expecting a story of hope & love in the midst of tragedy.  Instead I found a story of survival...and barely surviving at that.  Emma Thomas is a girl who lost her parents at a young age...her father to a car accident, and her mother to disinterest & alcohol.  She was taken in by her father's brother & his family.  It's never clear how or why she ended up with them, but it is clear that she isn't welcome.  Her aunt, Carol, resents every breath she takes & shows it in varying levels of violence.  Emma is expected to keep the house clean & perform chores on a regular basis, but is otherwise expected to be invisible.  She falls in line because she loves her niece & nephew and doesn't want to make life hard for them.  She tells herself that she can't let anyone know what is going on because she doesn't want to hurt them by having their mother taken away.

I went back and forth between wanting to hug & comfort Emma to wanting to talk some sense into her.  It's obvious with each interaction that Carol is a cruel woman.  The acts of violence she performs are so calculated & twisted that there is no way to believe that if Emma just sticks it out until graduation that all will be well in the household.  Once Emma is gone, it would only be a matter of time before Carol needed another target for her anger & the sweet, innocent children Emma is trying so hard to protect would be pulled into her nightmare.

She finds moments of escape with her only friend, Sara, who knows what is going on without Emma having to tell her, and she finds a glimmer of hope & love when she meets Evan Matthews, a boy who makes her feel despite the wall of numbness she has so carefully constructed around herself.  I'm resisting saying more because I don't want to add spoilers to my review, and I'm also holding out on giving my true opinion until I finish the series.

What I can tell you is that I couldn't put it down.  I found myself grabbing moments whenever & wherever I could to keep reading.  I carried my kindle around the house with me & synced my phone app when I needed to leave so that I could read whenever I had a minute.  Emma, Sara, & Evan were so compelling that I wanted to know where the story was going & wanted to see Emma escape & find happiness.

I can also tell you that if you make it to the end of this book, you'll have to pick up Barely Breathing soon after.  I resisted the urge so that I could record my thoughts on Reason to Breathe before they merged with the rest of the series, but I promise you, I'll be reading more before the night is over...and may still be reading come morning.

All that said...do I recommend it? Check back with me after I read book three!

Searching for Someday (Love Spells #1) by Jennifer Probst

From Amazon.com

From “one of the most exciting breakout novelists” (USA TODAY) comes the first novel in an irresistible new series—a spin-off of the bestselling Marriage to a Billionaire series—featuring a matchmaker who falls for a man who doesn’t believe in love.

Kate has given up on love—at least for herself. She is both blessed and cursed with the ability to sense a romantic connection between two people—a gift that her family passed down for generations. When Kate launches her own matchmaking company, Kinnection, with her two best friends in a cozy New York town, she has to put aside her own romantic disasters to make her business a success.

But when a furious man stalks into her office and accuses her business of being a scam, Kate is given the ultimate challenge to prove herself. Slade puts himself in her hands and asks Kate to find him love. Enraged at his arrogance but stubbornly eager to prove herself, Kate agrees, dedicating herself to the journey of finding him love…only to find herself falling for him along the way.

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***ARC provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Having never read any of Jennifer Probst previous books, I didn't really know what to expect when I started Searching for Someday, which is the start of her new series, but I enjoy stories with a little bit of a paranormal element thrown in so the idea of "Love Spells" caught my attention.  What I found was a fun, sweet story about the search for love.

Kate Seymore has inherited a family "curse" that allows her to sense romantic connections between people around her, but has never felt this spark for herself.  After a drunken session of dreaming with her two best friends, Kinnections was born.  Kinnections is an upscale matchmaking company in the small town of Verily on the outskirts of NYC.  Kate has used her ability to build a business & bring happiness to those around her while failing time & time again to find that connection for herself.  Her life changes when Slade Montgomery storms into her office accusing her of trying to scam his sister.  

Slade is a cynical divorce lawyer who has long ago given up on the idea of love as he watches it fall to pieces on a daily basis, but is willing to give Kinnections a try if only to prove that they are taking advantage of vulnerable people & save his sister from the heartache of love.  He is quite literally shocked when he meets Kate.

Where on the surface, this book has a fairly straight forward, formulaic romance storyline, it was one of the more fun reads that I have had in a while.  The banter between Kate & Slade was entertaining (even if I wanted to slap them both on a fairly regular basis!), and I loved their interaction with Robert...who was based on this guy.  I thought it was a wonderful way to bring attention to a cause without feeling heavy handed about it.  

I wish I had gotten to know Kate's partners Kennedy & Arilyn a little better, but that is the beauty of this being the start of a new series...I imagine we will in time!   I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys sweet romance stories...or just needs a break from some of the more dramatic/tragic/heartbreaking books.  It's a fun escape.  Now, while waiting for Searching for Perfect (Love Spells #2) to be released next spring, I'll have to go back & check out her Marriage to a Billionaire series.

This book will be released in both e-book & paperback on November 26th.

United We Spy (Gallagher Girls #6) by Ally Carter

From Amazon.com

Cammie Morgan has lost her father and her memory, but in the heart-pounding conclusion to the best-selling Gallagher Girls series, she finds her greatest mission yet. Cammie and her friends finally know why the terrorist organization called the Circle of Cavan has been hunting her. Now the spy girls and Zach must track down the Circle's elite members to stop them before they implement a master plan that will change Cammie—and her country—forever. Get ready for the Gallagher Girls' most astounding adventure yet as Ally Carter's New York Times best-selling series comes to breathtaking conclusion that will have readers racing to the last page.




 

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**SPOILER Warning** While I try my hardest not to include spoilers in my reviews, this is the sixth in the series & it would be hard to say what I love about this book without referencing things that happen earlier in the Gallagher Girls series.  If you are new to the series, then you might not want to read further.

I found the Gallagher Girls series somewhere between book two & three being released.  So, with my annual visit to the Gallagher Academy over the last few years, it really feels like I've watched these girls grow up.  In the first book, I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You, we meet Cameron Morgan (aka Cammie), Rebecca Baxter (aka Bex), Elizabeth Sutton (aka Liz) and Macey McHenry (who is just Macey...) at age 15.  They go to Gallagher Academy, an elite boarding school in Roseville, VA.  To the outside world, they are spoiled rich girls...but in reality, they are spies in training.  Their first mission is...of course...boys...or in particular, one boy who has caught Cammie's eyes.  They use their spy training to learn everything they can about him & to turn Cammie into the "perfect girlfriend".

As an adult reading this, it felt a little silly, but it was fun & well written.  I listened to it on audiobook to pass the time at work.  When I finished the first one, I went on to the second & then the third when it came out shortly after.  What hooked me was how much the stories matured with each book & passing year for the girls.  They really started to find themselves and their footing in the spy world as each mission got more real & more dangerous.

United We Spy picks up right where Out Of Sight, Out Of Time left off.  Cammie is still recovering from the events of the last summer...which she is finally starting to remember.   The mission is to find the leaders of the Circle of Cavan & prevent whatever world changing event they are planning.  They don't know what they are trying to stop...they just know it is supposed to be big. 

I like the fact that even though these girls are at a boarding school, their parents are still a big part of their lives.  So many YA books these days just seem to omit the existence of parents.  There are situations that they are placed in that are well beyond what I have experienced in my 30+ years, but there are also reminders along they way that they are still kids.  I also liked that they learned to rely on each other through everything, but also learned how to stand on their own when they needed to.  Most of all, I appreciated that the storyline evolved from a world where boys were their only focus to one where while romance is still a part (and don't get me wrong, I love Zach!) it isn't the point of the story.

I am sad to see the series come to an end, because I have really looked forward to and enjoyed those annual visits!  The ending is bittersweet, but perfect....especially after reading the bonus epilogue short story A Gallagher Wedding.  The only edition of the book this story is included in are the hardback copies from Barnes & Noble.  I'm glad I heard about the bonus before I bought the book so that I was sure to get the right edition.  If you read a different edition & miss out on the short story, you have two options, go sit in Barnes & Noble for a few minutes & read it...or as long as this link still works...I found this online!

A Gallagher Wedding

Covet by Tracey Garvis Graves

From Amazon.com

What if the life you wanted, and the woman you fell in love with, belonged to someone else?

Chris and Claire Canton's marriage is on life support. Downsized during the recession and out of work for a year, Chris copes by retreating to a dark place where no one can reach him, not even Claire. When he's offered a position that will keep him away from home four nights a week, he dismisses Claire's concern that time apart could be the one thing their fragile union can't weather. Their suburban life may look idyllic on the outside, but Claire has never felt so disconnected from Chris, or so lonely.

Local police officer Daniel Rush used to have it all, but now he goes home to an empty house every night. He pulls Claire over during a routine traffic stop and runs into her again at the 4th of July parade. When Claire is hired to do some graphic design work for the police department, her friendship with Daniel grows, and soon they're spending hours together.

Claire loves the way Daniel makes her feel, and the way his face lights up when she walks into the room. Daniel knows that Claire's marital status means their relationship will never be anything other than platonic. But it doesn't take long before Claire and Daniel are in way over their heads, and skating close to the line that Claire has sworn she'll never cross.

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I was introduced to Tracey Garvis Graves by Tammara Webber.  I struck up a conversation with Tammara on Facebook shortly after I finished her book, Between The Lines, and I asked her if she had any recommendations.  She told me to read On The Island.  I looked it up & found that it was a story about a teacher & her student being stranded on a desert island.  I had seen the story line of inappropriate student/teacher affairs popping up in several of the shows I was watching at the time & wasn't really interested, but I had time on my hands & nothing to read at the time so I downloaded the kindle sample & started reading.  As soon as the sample ended, I pulled up Amazon & bought the book.  Never for a second did I regret it.   So, buying Covet was a given...even though the subject matter once again made me wonder about the book.

Covet wasn't an easy book to read, but it touched on several important topics & raises some good questions.  She describes it as "Women's Fiction" as opposed to On The Island which is "Contemporary Romance", and there is definitely a different feel to this book.  What hasn't changed though, is how well it is written.  It's compelling because it is so real, but that is also the reason it is hard to read.  The circumstances could happen to anyone & some of the same mistakes would be so easy to make.  

The story centers around Claire Canton.  She once had the picture perfect life.  A happy marriage, two great kids, the house in the suburbs & great friends.  However, her life changed when her husband Chris lost his job due to downsizing.  Chris took great pride in his work & providing for his family. So, this was a devastating blow to him.  After a year of trying & failing to find work, he slides into a deep depression.  During this time, Claire has tried to be supportive, but can't help but feel more & more lonely as her husband pulls away.  When Chris does finally find a job, it requires a lot of travel. At first both he & Claire are hesitant but thinking that part is temporary & not really having any other options, Chris takes the job. His absence is felt strongly by the whole family & Claire is doing her best to hold it all together.  When she meets Officer Daniel Rush at a routine traffic stop & ends up spending time with him when she is hired to work on a project for the police department, they become friends.  Here is where the question comes into play of whether a man & woman can just be friends.  

I have seen several reviews referring to Covet as slow or boring.  It is a slower pace than a lot of the best sellers being released today, but I think the pace works for the story.  I love that we see the point of view of all three of the main characters because it shows how there is always more to a situation than what you think. I especially appreciated the addition of Chris' point of view.  It would be easy to write him off as the selfish, neglectful husband who is too absorbed in his own problems to see the pain he is causing to his family, but seeing his view point helped answer the question of why he made the choices that he did.  It's also heart-breaking & all too familiar to see how many problems are left un-resolved in a relationship just by failing to talk to each other.  As to where this story goes or how it resolves, I'll leave that to you to find out.  Don't go into this story expecting a lot of drama or excitement, but do give it a chance.  Where it didn't skyrocket to the top of my best books I've read this year list like On The Island did, I am definitely glad I read it & am already looking forward to Tracey's next book! 

One Day More / Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike

From Amazon.com

This captivating and poignant 50-page digital original short story is a prequel to New York Times bestselling author Aprilynne Pike's Life After Theft—a haunting novel about the true cost of paying for one's mistakes.

Most teenagers would do anything to have Kimberlee Schaffer's life. But beneath the beauty, the wealth, and the popularity, Kimberlee has a terrible problem: an uncontrollable, insatiable need to steal. Over the years, she's learned to hide her secret from those closest to her, but now it's completely consuming her life—and Kimberlee is afraid that if she doesn't find a way to put an end to her compulsion, she may see her perfect world come crumbling down.





From Amazon.com

Moving to a new high school sucks. Especially a rich-kid private school. With uniforms. But nothing is worse than finding out the first girl you meet is dead. And a klepto.

No one can see or hear Kimberlee except Jeff, so--in hopes of bringing an end to the snarkiest haunting in history--he agrees to help her complete her "unfinished business." But when the enmity between Kimberlee and Jeff's new crush, Sera, manages to continue posthumously, Jeff wonders if he's made the right choice.

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In a reading slump several years ago, I stumbled upon Wings by Aprilynne Pike. I picked it up because I thought the cover was pretty & I was pleasantly surprised by the story. I was drawn into her faerie world quickly & anxiously awaited the next part of the adventure as each following book was published. When I read that she was releasing the first book in a new series along with a stand-alone book, I was thrilled. Two books in one year! And a novella teasing the stand alone! So, of course, I downloaded One Day More as soon as it was available.

While is isn't absolutely necessary to read One Day More before reading Life After Theft, I would recommend it! One Day More gives a glimpse into the life of Kimberlee Schaffer. Kimberlee is the kind of girl that most girls in high school wish they were...beautiful, rich, & popular. What nobody sees is how unhappy Kimberlee is with her life & how lonely she is. She started stealing as a way to get her parents attention, but now she can't stop.

Kimberlee does come across as a bit of a spoiled princess which makes her a little hard to relate to, but reading One Day More did exactly what it was supposed to do, it introduced me to the characters & made me want to read Life After Theft.

It is hard to review Life After Theft without giving away the end of One Day More so if you want to read the novella unspoiled, please stop reading here!

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Where One Day More was Kimberlee's story, Life After Theft is Jeff's. We meet Jeff at the end of One Day More when Kimberlee discovers that she was successful in her attempt to drown & has returned as a ghost haunting the halls of her high school. Day after day passes with people walking through her until the day Jeff arrives at the school & sees her. His life is changed dramatically as he deals with Kimberlee & (after a bit of badgering) agrees to help her with her unfinished business so that she (and he!) can finally rest in peace.

Life After Theft picks up right where One Day More left off.  If you chose not to read the novella, the story will still make sense, but One Day More explains the why of how Kimberlee is the way she is which helped me to understand her motivations more than if I had just picked up Life After Theft on its own.

Kimberlee is the same spoiled princess we met in One Day More, but Jeff is a refreshing contrast. They play off of each other well & I enjoyed the way both characters grow & learn about themselves through the choices they make and their consequences. I really enjoyed the adventure & mishaps that occurred while Jeff tries to deal with Kimberlee & fit in at a new school, as well as the fact that the romantic story line wasn't a love triangle & didn't involve Kimberlee.

After reading the novella, I am glad that Life After Theft was written in Jeff's POV rather than Kimberlee's as he is the more interesting character. However, one thing I did wonder about while reading the book...and sadly am left wondering...is how Jeff can see Kimberlee & no one else can. We are just asked to accept that fact, and I wish there had been a little more detail. Overall, I really enjoyed the story & all of the characters. We spend most of our time with Jeff & Kimberlee, but we also get to know Jeff's laid back, yet loving parents as well as Sera & Khail who are mysterious yet compelling as their characters unfold.

While Life After Theft didn't feel quite as well thought out as the Wings series, it was a fun story. I love Aprilynne Pike's characters because they feel real...even with the paranormal elements thrown in. They are a mixture of sweet & snarky which makes for a great read. I'm glad I picked up this one & can't wait to read Earthbound!