Book Review: MERRY CHRISTMAS COLORING CUTOUTS by Energy & Sciences and Jennise Conley

Title: MERRY CHRISTMAS COLORING CUTOUTS
Author: Energy & Sciences & Jennise Conley
Category: Christmas
Pub. Date: 08/28/2012
Publisher: Energy and Sciences
Format: E-Book
Pages: 24
ISBN#: 1479207276    

Synopsis:   
This purchase includes a Christmas Coloring and Cutouts Book. It provides 12 adorable coloring pages including 9 unique images. This is the perfect activity book for our youngest artists. They can color, trace, cut and paste their favorite holiday pictures.

All proceeds benefit educational research. Teachers are welcome to make copies for personal classroom use.   

Read more »

Book Review: Momnesia by Lori Verni-Fogarsi

Title: Momnesia
Author: Lori Verni-Fogarsi
Category: Women's Fiction/Chick lit 
Pub. Date: 03/16/2012
Publisher: Brickstone Pub.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
ISBN#: 0984028463

Synopsis:  
FROM THE BACK COVER:
She's smart, pretty, and runs her own business. So then why does she feel so dead inside? Between work, two kids, and a husband who finds her about as exciting as furniture shopping, this is the story of a (formerly-exciting but now way-too-typical) suburban mom who diagnoses herself with "Momnesia" and sets about finessing a new version of her old vivaciousness:

MOMNESIA (mahm-nee-zhuh) -noun-
Loss of the memory of who you used to be. Caused by pregnancy, play dates, and trying to keep the house cleaner than the Joneses.

She finds some adventure pursuing her own interests, and does make some new friends (including the battery operated variety), but still feels like nothing more than a caretaker.

In between dealing with her husband's manic-depressive behavior, drama with her friends, and some naughty Internet escapades, she keeps facing the question, "Is it that I haven't been myself? Or is it that I am being myself but just different than I used to be?" It isn't until she tosses the Invisible Rule Book altogether that she discovers life--and love--have more to offer than she ever imagined!

Read more »

Book Review: Holly AND Ivy by SELAH JANEL

Title: Holly AND Ivy

Author: SELAH JANEL

Category: Novelet/Christmas/Fantasy

Pub. Date: 11/30/2012

Publisher: Mocha Memoirs Press, Inc

Format: E-Book

Pages: 40

ISBN#: B00AG111UU

SYNOPSIS: After losing her job and her boyfriend, Holly returns to her parents’ farm. Embarrassed and hopeless, she doesn’t expect to bump into a forgotten childhood friend that wasn’t supposed to exist. Ivy is not only a dryad, but she lives in the pine trees Holly’s family grows to sell at Christmas. As the old friends reconnect, Ivy not only shares her strong opinions, but gives Holly a charm that will change both their lives. As days melt into weeks and the seasons change, Holly’s life magically turns around. Christmas not only brings surprises, but a choice for the human woman. What’s more important: stability, success, and love, or keeping a promise to an old friend? 

Read more »

Book Review: Sugarplum Dreams by Lisa Bilbrey, M.B. Feeney, R.E. Hargrave, Michele Richard

Title: Sugarplum Dreams

Author: Lisa Bilbrey, M.B. Feeney, R.E. Hargrave, Michele Richard

Category: Christmas

Pub. Date: 12/11/2012

Publisher: Renaissance Romance Publisher

Format: E-Book

Pages:

ISBN#: 0615729738

Synopsis:      

A late night reunion on the beach, warm cookies fresh from the oven, the overwhelming world of online dating, and a one-night stand that changes of the lives of three people — Sugarplum Dreams, Book Four of the Candy Collection, wields a voyage of self-discovery, new beginnings, new loves, and admirable courage.

Broken Roads & Dusty Dreams

Riley Farris and Natalie Sloane were the best of friends who spent every summer together on the sandy beach of Mustang Island. Then, just when Riley is getting set to spend another summer with Natalie, she disappears. As the years pass, he struggles to understand what happened to the girl he knew. Until, one night while walking on the beach, he stumbles upon a woman who is broken and lost.

Right Click, Love

Disheartened about not being able to find “Mr. Right” on the London dating scene, best friends Jodie Lynch and Louise Hewson create a blog to not only document their disastrous dates with the numerous “Mr. Wrongs” and “Mr. Okay-for-nows” but also to help those going through the same experiences and to see where they’re going wrong. How will they deal with everything the dating scene has to throw at them — planned or otherwise?

Sugar & Spice

Lacey Harrison has been dealt an unexpected hand in life: being a single mom. With her father's help and that of the residents at Royal Hills Nursing Home, she thrives and goes on to become a successful baker. She is content with her life but knows that she and her daughter Candy are missing something. Will things change for the better when Trent Childress moves into town and adds some spice to her sugar?

The Roommates

Spring break changes everything for Daphne Hobbs. A one-night stand leaves her pregnant and alone. She soon discovers that the father is an identical twin, and she's unsure of which one turned her world upside down. She’ll be forced to share her apartment with them until she can discover the truth. Julius and Jordan Sweet share everything in their lives — almost to the point of living one life. Will Daphne uncover who’s the daddy?  

Read more »

Book Review: the SECRET KEEPER by KATE MORTON

Title: the SECRET KEEPER

Author: KATE MORTON

Category: Historical Fiction

Pub. Date: 10/09/2012

Publisher: Ateia

Format: Hardback

Pages: 481

ISBN#: 1439152802

Synopsis:  

1961 England. Laurel Nicolson is sixteen years old, dreaming alone in her childhood tree house during a family celebration at their home, Green Acres Farm. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and then observes her mother, Dorothy, speaking to him. And then she witnesses a crime.

Fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to Green Acres for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by memories and questions she has not thought about for decades. She decides to find out the truth about the events of that summer day and lay to rest her own feelings of guilt. One photograph, of her mother and a woman Laurel has never met, called Vivian, is her first clue.

The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams, the lengths some people go to fulfill them, and the strange consequences they sometimes have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers and schemers, play-acting and deception told against a backdrop of events that changed the world. 

Read more »

Book Review: The Christmas Quilt by Patricia Davids

Title: The Christmas Quilt

Author: Patricia Davids

Category: Christmas

Pub. Date: 11/15/2011

Publisher: Love Inspired

Format: Paperback

Pages: 224

ISBN#: 0373877099

Synopsis:  

Years ago, Rebecca Beachy kept her reasons for rejecting Gideon Troyer's marriage proposal a secret. Then Gideon left their Amish community. Now, Rebecca crafts quilts to raise money to cure her blindness. She's also busy guarding her heart against love. Until Gideon returns, at risk of being shunned, to make the winning bid on one of her exquisite quilts. Will the quilt—a patchwork promise of rediscovered love—bring Gideon and Rebecca back together again? 

Read more »

Book Review: A Simple Amish Christmas by Vannetta Chapman

Title: A Simple Amish Christmas
Author: Vannetta Chapman
Category: Holiday/Christmas
Pub. Date: 10/01/2010
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Format: E-Book
Pages: 256
ISBN#: 1426710666

Synopsis:  

Annie Weaver always planned to return home, but the 20-year old RN has lived in Philadelphia for three years now. As her time of rumschpringe is about to come to an abrupt end, bringing for Annie an overwhelming sense of loneliness. She returns home and finds herself face-to-face with a budding romance with an Amish farmer and important choices to make.

Read more »