The Secrets Women Keep

Synopsis

Rose waits for her family to arrive at their villa in Tuscany when a casual glance at her husband's phone tips her world upside down. The text reads simply: 'Miss you. Love you. Come back soon.'

Daniel has always been popular with women, she knows that. But until this moment she has had no cause for worry. Has something shifted within their marriage without her realising?

As the family gathers for the summer break, Rose's faith in Daniel is shaken. How well does she really know him? She fears that, after decades of marriage and children, the man who lies beside her at night is lying in other ways too. Then events take a tragic turn.

Wise, wry and richly entertaining, The Secrets Women Keep celebrates the passionate, emotional lives women lead as wives, mothers and grandmothers.

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Quick Review: A Little Bit Of Crazy

A Little Bit of Crazy

Synopsis
I'm strong, I'm passionate, I'm free.
At least I was until my father asked me to marry his handsome, charming and completely gorgeous right hand man who was also a sort of friend to myself. I agreed of course, mainly because it was his last dying wish to see me with someone who he knew would treat me well.

Will I love him? Will I hate him? 
Maybe both with a little bit of crazy
I know I'll fail, I'm selfish, self-centered and shallow. I just hope he's prepared for when I do.

This is our story, it has: a Channing Tatum poster, a long lost brother, a bony blonde and a promiscuous female friend, plus a hot shot star and the one and only sinus blocker Sylvia. Now throw in a crazy lady and a man who would do anything for her (meaning myself and James) and you have our story. Or the first part of it.

A Little Bit of Us 

Synopsis
I remember the time I was free, I didn't care to love, I only cared about myself.
Now I'm stuck. Stuck with a man who destroyed my heart, stuck in a protective bubble that keeps me from reality.

What happens when that bubble pops? 
What happens when reality hits me in the face?
How will I cope with my new life, my new future? 
Will I ever forgive James? I want to... but what if I can't?

So many questions... .read the concluding part of mine and James' story for the answers. Will we get our HEA? 

Review

A Little Bit of Crazy is roughly about Maya, a twenty something young woman with the world at her feet, she is rich, pampered and arrogant. When she's asked by her father on his death bed to marry his right hand man, she reacts by running off to Vegas. This book was a surprise because I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. The writing is erratic and impossible to follow at times but it is very addictive. 

Maya is a self centered narcissist, her quest for freedom in an arranged marriage brings unexpected pleasure and chaos. She also acts in such a way that its impossible to ignore or even dislike her. This book needed a great editor to turn it into a great read.  Although it is based in America, there are so many elements that are  too English to work for an American audience. I'm not sure why an English author would set her book in another country but this author does and I'm not sure whether it adds or takes away anything from the book.  There's nothing American about this book apart from the setting, the humor and the mannerisms are too English.  

Further I got the feeling that the author was living through Maya's escapades. She is childish and intentionally irritating but still captivating.  The only book I can compare A Little Bit of Crazy would be Fifty Shades of Grey, not because of its explicit content but because it has the same addictive vibe as Fifty. The plot isn't great, the characters are childish and its hard to imagine why anyone would write such a book but I was caught up in the madness and I enjoyed it.

A.E Murphy a young author who needs to grow into her own words. A Little Bit Of Crazy lacked organisation and editing.This is a great debut and I look forward to reading more of the author's work because I think she is very talented. 

Summer With Love

Summer With Love

Love has never been easy to navigate for the Westerling triplets. Practical Katy’s on the verge of marrying a man she knows isn’t The One.

Free-spirited Libby refuses to be tied down and paparazzi-magnet Alex might just be in over his head. But could this summer, with sun-soaked escapes to Seville, Greece and Cornwall help them finally find the map to romance?

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Review: No One Ever Has Sex On A Tuesday

Synopsis

Never has a one-night stand led to such chaos!

Childhood sweethearts Matthew and Katy agree they must never see each other again after they end up in bed together following a school re-union.

So all is forgotten... until eight months later when a shock meeting at an antenatal class forces them to confront the fact that Matthew could be the father of Katy's baby. Oblivious to the mayhem unfolding, Matthew's highly-strung wife frets over giving birth to twins and Katy’s much younger boyfriend refuses to take fatherhood seriously.

Love and life are messy but Katy and Matthew take things to a whole new level as deep emotions begin to resurface and hormones run riot.  How will they navigate their way through this almighty cock-up?

Review

"There are those who get to choose the father of their child and those who don't. Those who spend years sifting through the giant haystack that is the male population and those who get unexpectedly ambushed."

Kate gets unexpectedly ambushed. She is in her thirties, unmarried and potentially pregnant by a boyfriend with a mental age of around 16. This story begins with a drive to an antenatal class, Kate is having a very unsuccessful conversation with her man-child/boyfriend.  This conversation turns out to be my favorite conversation out of the whole book because it sets the scene on these two characters work. In this conversation Kate chides Ben for using the word "fanny" because her Nan was called Fanny and she married a Mycock. Ben find this very funny, Kate on the other hand is not impressed. They are mismatched but very sweet.

Tracy Bloom's accurate observations throughout the entire book were funny, vivid and realistic. For example 
Kate's observation that Ben was "smelling unpleasantly of gym shoes, teenage boy sweat and mashed potato" was a nice reminder of being back in Secondary school. I was momentarily traumatized by high school flashbacks of football boys. Bloom is a great observer of human especially women. In this read, Bloom shows her understanding of how the female brain works. 

This book is well written, witty brought together by great characters.  Bloom creates characters that are extremely narcissistic but endearing,. Everyone seems to be worried about something. Kate is worried about who the father her baby could be, Mathew is worried about himself and Ben is worried about the baby coming out as ginger. Everyone is at one point panicking or hysterical.I found the more they panicked, the more I enjoyed the book.  This is a superb read, full of laugh out loud moments, romance and realistic. Bloom balances laughter with tears, there are no pretentious moments. I enjoyed every single page of this book. 

I could almost visualize all the characters from this book.  Kate is the strong willed realist while Ben is the moronic yet lovable boyfriend, .In the beginning Ben is the lovable class clown, the one with the funniest jokes but as the book develops Ben grows up gradually and matures into a lovely young man. Daniel is the gay best friend, Mathew is the confused middle-aged ma and Braindead is brain dead. This book is a glorious read, Its extremely funny, and by far one the best books I've read this year. 

Honeymoon For One

Synopsis

Ava Ramirez has known better days.

Suffering from fever and all alone at home on New Year's Eve, she is unceremoniously dumped by her fiance just six weeks before their Valentines Day wedding.

But instead of falling to pieces, Ava is surprised to find that she is more relieved than upset by this recent turn of events. So much so that she cancels all the wedding arrangements she had been painstakingly making over the past year.  All except for one.

She decides to go on her honeymoon anyway. By herself.  Hoping to find inner peace and a clarity of mind with her solo trip to Italy, Ava is even more surprised to find herself drawn into yet another romantic encounter with the mysterious Nico. Purchase

Quick Reviews

The Solution

Wendy Miller adores the baby girl her dying friend left in her care, but when she loses her job, she has no choice but to call on Rory's family for help. What she doesn't count on is that Mack Burgess wants to raise his niece.

Mack’s wealthy and powerful, and he could take Rory away from her in an instant. But Rory’s attached to Wendy – so Mack’s solution is to propose that they build a family for the baby’s sake. 

In order to keep her baby, can Wendy actually marry the man she's come to love – even though he doesn't love her?

Review 

The Solution is a great read on a long journey primarily because it can become irritating and you might need a little patience and resilience to continue reading. I'm a big fan of Leigh Michaels, she is great author who creates brilliant characters 

However this book dragged on beyond belief. The story should be short and sweet but it wasn't, it seemed to go one years on end with nothing interesting happening. 

Another problem with this book is that we never know what Mark thinks until the end, therefore we never really get to truly understand him. It is a story centered on Wendy and she wants and needs. This gets very irritating. 

This story is well written but it is too long and the love between these two protagonists was not developed enough to ring true. Also for a big chunk of the book, nothing interesting happens hence why the patience is needed. It is a good train read because only on a train did I have enough patience to finish it. Only on a train did I have patience for characters who tither around like high school children waiting for the school bell to chime. 

Anything You Ask

"I was wrong Dani. I never should have left without telling you how I felt, but spilling my guts terrified me. My own family didn't love me, so why would you."

Widow Danielle Cooper doesn't know how she'll support her two young sons and a 400-acre farm. Her prodigal brother-in-law offers an unusual solution. He'll pay off her debt in exchange for the deed. She agrees to a temporary marriage to transfer the farm, but can she trust a man with too many secrets?

Thrown off the farm by his father, Hale vows to reclaim the land where he was raised. Helping Danielle provides a perfect way to redeem himself, but his feelings complicate matters. He wants to make their marriage a real one. Problem is, Danielle won't tolerate any more secrets, and he can't tell her why his family disowned him.

Now more is on the line than just the farm. Staying together will require a special kind of courage. Are they strong enough to let go of their painful past and embrace the future?

Review 

I enjoyed this more than The Solution because the characters felt more genuine.  Danielle is a widow who falls in love with her brother in law. This story did sound very incestuous on the onset but it is far from that. This is a really sweet story between two souls who are hurt and broken and need a little TLC. 

Lynn Kellan is great author, Anything You Ask is romantic, endearing and the characters aren't as pretentious and self righteous as I thought they would be. This is great duvet read. Worth a try.