Included in my Heart to Heart column today about what to read after Fifty Shades is Delphine Dryden's e-novella, The Theory of Attraction .Camilla can set her watch by her hunky rocket-scientist neighbor who jogs past her window each day. She relishes each glimpse of his shirtless abs, and is dying to see more. But it's hard to connect with a man who doesn't seem to know she exists...
Ivan feels at home in the lab, not in social situations. When he finally approaches his attractive neighbor, it's not for a date—he wants tutoring in how to behave at an important fundraiser. Ivan doesn't expect the chemistry between them to be quite so explosive, and is surprised when Cami actually accepts his proposal to embark on a series of "lessons."
Cami soon discovers Ivan's schedule isn't the only thing he likes to be strict about—he needs to be charge in the bedroom as well. She's shocked at how much she comes to enjoy her submissive side, but wonders if a real relationship is in the equation...
Oh, ladies (and any gentlemen reading!)
I posted this beautifully written homage to Susan Elizabeth Phillips' latest book, The Great Escape, and the site gobbled it up. I was really proud of it too. Darn Mercury retrograde!
I'll try again but I don't think I'll be able to reproduce what I wrote: Lucy Jorik, wayward orphan from First Lady, was last scene ditching her wedding to the perfect Ted Beaudine in Call Me Irresistible . This was Ted and Meg Koranda's book, so while Lucy's bolting cleared the way for them we readers weren't given a lot of info about where or why she ran. The Great Escape, begins at Lucy's wedding, in the moments before she decides to end it. We see her run, we see her hop on the back of motorcycle, and we see her leave her life behind. The question at the heart of the story is why? Why would Lucy do this, sabotage what would be a happy marriage to a gorgeous, kind, successful man?
The answer lies with the biker, Panda. Lucy and Panda don't know each other, but something undefined keeps them together. He's rude, crude, unseemly, unpolished, and a little - a lot? - dangerous. But Lucy spends hours staring at his broad shoulders and each time she's got a chance to end their journey, she doesn't take it. Panda's got secrets - many of them - and he's got trouble written all over him. Good girl Lucy shouldn't want him, yet she does.
Guys, I just loved this book. I love all SEP's stories, but something about this was really touching. These characters have insecurities that just made them so sympathetic and easy to root for. I really highly recommend this one.
Please, BN.com: don't eat my post!
Guys, SEP is on tour promoting The Great Escape Visit her website for the places and dates. You could meet her!
When it rains, it pours - I alway read amazing books one after another, it seems!
Anyway, I highly, highly, highly recommend Tracey Garvis Graves' On the Island .
You can read my review at Heart to Heart, The Island Had Plans for Me, and see below for the story description.
Anna Emerson is a thirty-year-old English teacher desperately in need of adventure. Worn down by the cold Chicago winters and a relationship that’s going nowhere, she jumps at the chance to spend the summer on a tropical island tutoring sixteen-year-old T.J.
T.J. Callahan has no desire to go anywhere. His cancer is in remission and he wants to get back to his normal life. But his parents are insisting he spend the summer in the Maldives catching up on all the school he missed last year.
Anna and T.J. board a private plane headed to the Callahan’s summer home, and as they fly over the Maldives’ twelve hundred islands, the unthinkable happens. Their plane crashes in shark-infested waters. They make it to shore, but soon discover that they’re stranded on an uninhabited island.
At first, their only thought is survival. But as the days turn to weeks, and then months, the castaways encounter plenty of other obstacles, including violent tropical storms, the many dangers lurking in the sea, and the possibility that T.J.’s cancer could return. As T.J. celebrates yet another birthday on the island, Anna begins to wonder if the biggest challenge of all might be living with a boy who is gradually becoming a man.
Copying and pasting this post I just left at the Heart to Heart thread, because I don't know what highly recommended means if this isn't it!
We've had a lonely summer at Heart to Heart: both Marisa and Maria were forced to give up thier reviewers' posts due to work commitments. But today's a happy day! There's a new blogger on the team: her name is Caprice Damani and she's an expert on all the kinds of romance I'm not. Namely, paranormal. Namely, if you're looking for books like these to read, check out her weekly column, live every Monday. And start with today's, where she's highlighting the multi-faceted Shadow Kissed series by Erin Kellison.
Melanie_Murray wrote:
I can't say enough about Barbara O'Neal's The Garden of Happy Endings but I tried to at Heart to Heart today:
Nature’s easy to predict; vibrantly colorful months are followed by chillingly spare ones. The knowledge that a green season is around the corner makes the long, dark days of winter easier to bear. The expectation of spring, the certainty that it’s coming, is what hope is.
But what if you can’t see around the corner? What if the barren landscape of your feelings and spirit is so consuming that you forget the saying about darkness and dawn? This is the central question of Barbara O’Neal’s stirring, thoughtful new book The Garden of Happy Endings.
As in any good garden, O’Neal’s novel is populated by a variety of specimens. There’s Tamsin Corsi, an empty-nester struggling with how to make the new phase of her life meaningful. Her daughter Alexa is a bud of girl, a twenty-something who has struck off on her own half a world away from Tamsin’s home in Colorado. And there’s Elsa, Tamsin’s sister and Alexa’s aunt, a woman who has known pain and devastating loss, and has grown stronger and sturdier because of it.
But Elsa is in the middle of a crisis. She is a woman of faith, a minister whose relationship with God has given her life purpose and her job inspiration. Elsa came to her understanding with the Man Upstairs after a shattering event: years earlier, her fiancé and childhood love Joaquin left her…for God. His calling to the priesthood sent Elsa on a wandering journey through Europe, and her own faith. What she was left with was a commitment to the ministry, to her own unflappable connection to the spiritual world. And now, after so many tests and joys and tribulations and successes, Elsa’s belief has been snuffed out. The shocking, sudden death of one of her congregants shatters Elsa so much that she leaves her church.
At home in Colorado, in the embrace of her sister Tamsin and her former boyfriend, now known as
Father Jack, Elsa embarks on a community project: planting a garden. It’s an action that has a quietly healing effect. No longer able to seek comfort and answers from God, Elsa turns to her family and new friends like Deacon McCoy, a recovering alchoholic making amends for past mistakes by volunteering in Father Jack’s church. Love, gardening, and community, going through these motions while not hearing her guiding spirit, is a test of faith for Elsa. She can’t remember that spring is coming, but the blooms in the new garden and the fizz of flirtation with Deacon begin to whisper in her soul, and soon Elsa is on the road to reconnection with her inner voice, the belief system that has informed so many of her life choices.
The Garden of Happy Endings is quite possibly the perfect springtime novel. It’s about reawakening, connecting, and flowering; about the bonds of friendship and sisterhood; the beauty in everyday rituals like walking, and gardening, and eating. The sadness of this story is counterbalanced by the joy; in that way Barbara O’neal captures a slice of life, wraps it in a warm embrace of spring and spirit, and presents it to her readers as an offering of hope.
I was inspired to read more, to walk more, and to - yes - pull out my dusty terra cotta planters after finishing this book. That's the mark of a memorable read, right? Not only do the characters remain with me, but I feel a little bit of inspiration.
This is a WONDERFUL book - I passed my copy on to my future daughter-in-law. Barbara O'Neal is on my must-read list!
Melanie_Murray wrote:
Copying and pasting this post I just left at the Heart to Heart thread, because I don't know what highly recommended means if this isn't it!
Here's the link! And drop a "hello" in the comments. I'm sure she'll appreciate the welcome.
I love Erin Kellison!
Leaving Lila by Liza Bayles is getting great reviews on goodreads~ one word people: Keys! I loved it!
I talked about this book over on the "What Book Are You Reading" thread, but since it's part of the K.I.S.S. & Teal campaign, and because I loved it, and because we've given to much coverage to the other K.I.S.S. books here, I wanted to make sure that you guys know how highly I recommend this one!
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! It's been a weird month for me in terms of being able to get my internet to work, and so I've missed out on some NRT posts. I'm making it up to you here! These are some of the best books I've read this month, and wanted to share in case you're looking for something to curl up with over the long weekend. There's a book here for every taste. I'm especially taken with the Beth Ciotta and of course the Sylvia Day - that series is addictive.Rescue My Heart (Animal Magnetism Series #3)
Heartbreak Creek (Runaway Brides Romance Series #1)
Reflected in You (Crossfire Series #2)
