Skipping Christmas

This is such a fun book AND it was made into a movie called Christmas with the Kranks.  It is a nice, light, refreshing step away from the mysteries John Grisham usually writes.  I read it a long time ago but since I am waiting for my copy of Gray Mountain to come in, I thought I would pick it up again.  If you can just imagine a year without shopping, without the stress of finding the perfect gift, without smiling joyfully at an unwanted gift and instead SKIP CHRISTMAS altogether.  Some years that may be just what is needed.  This a fun, quick book that reveals trying to skip Christmas is not as easy as planned.

  

We carry Skipping Christmas in regular book format, physical audio cd and the movie on DVD.

Erin Brockovich

I loved the movie Erin Brockovich but I particularly like her fiction series.  I read, not too long ago Rock Bottom featuring AJ Palladino, environmental activist.  Superb suspense thriller you will not want to put down.  I am in the middle of the next novel Hot Water that is turning out to be just as amazing.  Erin Brockovich, with CJ Lyons is a passionate storyteller where real life experiences are mixed into the storyline that keep you guessing and wondering how it'll end.  I absolutely recommend this melodramatic thriller.  Another quick read but not frivolous.

  

We carry Rock Bottom in regular print format, e-book, MP3 CD, Playaway and downloadable audio.  We carry Hot Water in regular print format only.

Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography

I have read more nonfiction this year than I have in my entire life combined.  But I am still particular about what nonfiction I read.  This time, what can be a more frivolous read than an autobiography of a Hollywood Star?  In this case, Rob Lowe is the main character.  <sigh, whistle, swoon>  I thought this book would get down and dirty about his Hollywood life, his bad boy reputation, the spectacle/spectacular life, etc.  I actually though it was really well written and probably downplayed a lot of his escapades but very informative about how he grew up with other actors (Sean Penn, Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, etc.).  Lowe talks about starting out in acting, the Brat Pack years, being an alcoholic, glamorous romances, his video escape, rehab, Wayne's World, West Wing and family.  It was a very quick read and I felt there could be more to the story (thus a sequel in Love Life?) but it was written with integrity and insightful antecdotes of everyone he came in contact with and molded him into the person he is today.  Try it, read it, love it.

We carry this book in regular print format, physical audio and downloadable audio.

Linda Castillo

I love reading about the Amish but I am completely obsessed with Linda Castillo's Kate Burkholder series where Kate used to be Amish and is now the chief of police for the community she used to belong to.  I probably should not write about this series here in this blog for it really goes against the light and fluffy type of reads previously posted but oh boy is this a terrific series.  I will lay it out for you; it is graphic, it is gory, but very quick reads (one element of this blog at least!).  The story lines will always keep you on your toes and when you are finished with one novel, you will run to get the next.  Start with the first, see how you like it.  Linda Castillo is one of the best writer of thriller novels.  Enjoy!

We carry this book in regular print format, physical audio cd, ebook and downloadable audio.

Life Intercepted

I am not sure I would categorize this book as light and fluffy but it is a great, quick read.  If you like football or sports this is the book for you as well stories about loyalty and lost dreams.  I became immersed in the story right away and could not put it down.  I was pretty bummed when it ended for I wanted to know more but that is only because I like neat, tidy endings.  It ended nicely, I just wanted more or really did not want the story to end.  I love how the author described the feelings of football, not just the game but the comraderie between players, friends and coaches in good times and in bad, wins and losses.  There is an amazing lesson in this story, see if you can find it.

We carry this book in regular print only.

Home Front

This week I chose something similar to last weeks choice, sort of.  Home Front by Kristin Hannah is about a woman who is called to war and leaves her husband and two girls behind.  This is a story of a rocky marriage, made even rockier by war, a husband unaccustomed to being a single father and then having to deal with tragedies war left behind.  I think this emulates many families who are entrenched in military life.  War will change them all.  It is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor and hope.

We carry this book in regular print, large print, audio, playaway and downloadable audio.

Family Tree

Barbara Delinsky is such an easy read.  Her works have great flow to them.  I know this title is older but it is a wonderful story. A husband adores his wife and can trace his heritage back to the Mayflower, now the couple is expecting a baby.  What could be more wonderful?  They give birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl with unmistakably African-American in appearance.  Questions and accusations arise while the truth comes out.  This is a wonderfully written novel about family, secrets, personal prejudice, privilege and identity.  Through this journey the couple finds out their strengths, commitments and definition of themselves as a couple, family and individuals.

We carry this book in regular print, audio and downloadable audio.

The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe

This is another great, quick story about living life in the fast lane and learning to sloooooow down.  I get the title, Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Cafe by Mary Simses but it really is not another novel about food.  The Cafe takes a backseat to the main character, Ellen who wants to fulfill her grandmother's dying wish.  In her quest to do so, one thing happens and then another and another...then Ellen begins to question everything in her life.  It is a novel about love, purpose and the promise of a simpler life.  Quick and easy.

We carry this book in regular print format only.

Some day I'll find it...

And not the Rainbow Connection...if you know the song.  Every time I look for books on the shelf in fiction for others I am always on the lookout for one particular book.  Maybe you have seen it?  Here is what I remember:  It is a smaller hardcover book, almost square, really quick read and I believe the cover is red, possibly a checkerboard pattern like a picnic table cloth.  I read this book from cover to cover while I was in labor waiting for the birth of my son.  Honestly, I read  the whole thing waiting in the hospital before he was born.  I do not remember the title or even what the book was about.  But someday it will just come to me and I will say,  "That's it!"  The funny things you remember, or don't.  Hmmm...I am always on the lookout, even eight years later.  It is not Richard Paul Evans.  I keep thinking it may be P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern but the cover really does not match and I have seen the movie a hundred times.  I recommend it by the way.  Tragic but beautiful love story when a woman's husband dies but sends her letters after his death for each month for a year guiding her into her new life without him signing each letter with P.S I Love You.  It really is a good but not my lost title.  Someday...

We carry this book in regular print only.

Danielle Steel

I am a complete paperback junkie.  I could read whatever.  Once upon a time I absolutely loved Danielle Steel which you can find everywhere in paperback.  But I fell out of love of her writing when I read too many in a stretch and found a character from one love story that showed up in another book who had an affair with another character---who was supposed to be madly in love with someone else.  Oh, the horror!  Then several, several years later I picked her up again.  I found the same formula writing but I still liked it.  She is definitely an easy read.  My two all time favorites of hers are The Ghost and The House.  If I had to pick one it would be The House.  I love the historical aspects of the house in the story and how the family genealogy is found throughout the story of the house.  It is a match made in heaven.  I liked The Ghost for the historical aspects too.  Go ahead, check one out today.  Read her knowing you will find a beginning, middle, drama, romance and usually a happy ending.  Danielle Steel is a romance must read sometime in your life.

  

We carry The Ghost in regular print and audio.  We carry The House in regular print and as an ebook.

Beekeeper's Ball

I love sequels to books and this one lives up to my standards for easy reads.  It answers many questions I had in The Apple Orchard and (of course!) now I have more.  Susan Wiggs likes to keep us on our toes...trying to figure things out.  I hope there will be another and soon!

I love the incredible descriptions of food, landscape, family, really everything that Susan Wiggs writes makes you feel as if you are right there amidst it all.  A with all the books I choose, you will find love and food in this story but also Danish history and a family that is truly remarkable.  Have fun but give yourself some time, you will probably want to read it in one sitting.

We carry The Beekeeper's Ball in audio, regular print and ebook.  The Apple Orchard was reviewed in this blog on February 24th.

The Glass Kitchen

Here is another one hot off the presses by Linda Francis Lee.  Another foodie type but not really.  Full of fun, friendship, relationships, family, food and "the knowing"--one of those mystical concepts I usually don't care about but it really works in this story.  I love figuring out why the kitchen is called the Glass Kitchen and the antedotes Portia's grandmother leaves behind.  Full of history and food, it is now my favorite of the month.

Portia Cuthcart wakes up in her Manhattan apartment with the taste of chocolate cake in her mouth. Recognizing the strange gift that comes in the form of compulsions to bake, mix, boil, or cook any given thing at any given time, she heads to the store to pick up the ingredients. After years of ignoring her cooking talents in favor of being the perfect politician’s wife, Portia is excited and a little scared to know that her gift has come back. With the support of her two older sisters and a terrifyingly handsome investor, Portia begins to make her dream of opening a restaurant in New York City a very real possibility.

We carry this title in regular print format.

Nantucket Sisters

Nancy Thayer rocks and this new one by her (just out last week!) will not disappoint.  I read it in one sitting, by the pool on a lazy afternoon and I was NOT leaving until I finished it.  I love reading about Nantucket Island and the different cultural aspects of the people living there.  Who are considered islanders, off-islanders,etc.  It is such a small knit community but with such diversity between the people brought up there and the people who help make it be what it is.  That being said, the story itself is a true beach read.  Full of love, laughter, family, friendship...every aspect that makes this list of fun, frivolous reads.  Enjoy!

We carry this book in regular print and as an e-book through One Click Digital.

That Summer

Here is another book from Lauren Willig (History of the Pink Carnation, etc).  This book just came out and I was excited to grab it.  It is very similar to the Pink Carnation series in the sense that you are moved between present and past times to have the whole story unfold for you.  I don't want to ruin the story for you but here is a little idea of what is going on in the present:

That Summer

2009: When Julia Conley hears that she has inherited a house outside London from an unknown great-aunt, she assumes it’s a joke. She hasn’t been back to England since the car crash that killed her mother when she was six (and gave her nightmares that have lasted into adulthood). But when she arrives at Herne Hill to sort through the house—with the help of her cousin Natasha and sexy antiques dealer Nicholas—bits of memory start coming back. And then she discovers a pre-Raphaelite painting, hidden behind the false back of an old wardrobe, and a window onto the house’s shrouded history begins to open…

We carry this book in regular print.

Edilean Series

Jude Deveraux was one of my favorites when I first started reading romance novels along with Judith McNaught---I could not get enough of them.  At the time, they mostly wrote historical romances or maybe that is just all I wanted to read back then.  I moved on to different genres for awhile and came back to both of them awhile ago and began reading their contemporary novels.  I fell in love with Jude's Edilean Series.  They are light, contemporary and historical.  What I like best about these books is the continuation and history of the families.  I can't get away from historical fiction no matter how hard I try.  It is everywhere, I do like it...you may too.  I recommend two of her standalone novels also, Mulberry Tree and Wild Orchids.  Here is a list of the Edilean Series in order:

Lavender Morning                                      
Days of Gold
Scarlet Nights
Promises (Vook only)
Scent of Jasmine
Heartwishes
Moonlight in the Morning
Stranger in the Moonlight
Moonlight Masquerade (on order)

    

We do carry many of her titles in regular print, large print, audio and downloadable audio.  Enjoy!

Sara Donati

This series, beginning with Into the Wilderness, is high on my list of best historical romance/fiction series.  I would call it epic in a way because it reminds me of James Fenimore Cooper novels but on a slightly lighter scale.  What I love about this series is how strong the women are in each novel, each circumstance and each relationship.  The series spans several generations and geographic locations. From England to New York, to Canada and Scotland you will feel, through the prose, the landscape of each location and each life will come alive through the descriptions.  If you like Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, you will LOVE Sara Donati's Into the Wilderness series.  

We carry this series in book and ebook format, audio and downloadable audio.

Barbara Taylor Bradford

I remember my mother reading Barbara Taylor Bradford when I was a teenager and thought, "What an old lady read, how boring."  (Sorry, Mom)  Twenty years later as I reached my mothers' age or surpassed it, I picked up Emma's Secret by Barbara Taylor Bradford.  I pretty much grabbed it because I liked the cover. (Stop yelling!  I know I should know better.)  It was a great book!  Full of secrets, intrigue, romance, regrets and made me long for more.  Emma's Secret happened to be in the middle of the Harte Family Saga beginning with Woman of Substance...the very book my mother was reading twenty years ago.  Like they say, in some instances, you do become your parents at some point.  There was even a miniseries made about the Harte Family Saga that we carry!  So you know someone, other than me just knew this was a set of fantastic books.  See what you think, my mind was changed...definitely not an "old lady read".

Here is a synopsis of Emma's Secret that may just pull you in:

Emma Harte, the heroine of Bradford's novel A Woman of Substance (1979), has been dead for more than 30 years when Emma's Secret opens, but her past factors heavily into the events of the novel. At the bequest of her dying grandmother, young American Evan Hughes arrives at Emma's magnificent English clothing store, Hartes, only to find out that Emma has long since died. She is soon hired as a store assistant to Linnet O'Neill, Emma's great-granddaughter, who can't help but notice the American's resemblance to her own mother, Paula. Evan and Gideon Harte, Paula's cousin, fall in love amid whispers that Evan might be the descendant of one of Emma's husbands. The truth lies in Emma's diary, but Paula is reluctant to read it. Curiosity finally gets the better of her, and the journal takes Paula to Emma's life during World War II, and at least partially answers the family's questions about Evan's heritage. It is up to Paula to figure out the rest. Readers new to the series might have a hard time getting a handle on the large cast of characters and their relationships to each other, but those familiar with Emma Harte and her large family will feel right at home.

-BookList

  

We carry Emma's Secret in large print and regular book format.  Woman of Substance is available in regular book format and the miniseries is available in DVD format.

Wishing Thread

For the life of me, I can not get into the genre of vampires and magic.  I think maybe it just isn't real enough for me...I'm not sure.  I want to understand the draw but as I read I start to roll my eyes and fall asleep.  I hate it because the newest trilogy by Nora Roberts is about magic and I LOVE her but can not even get through the first chapter of the first book.  Someday, maybe.  I picked up the MP3CD of The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen for two reasons, I am a cover shopper (not a quality trait, I know) and it was brand new, just put out on the shelf right when I needed something to listen to.  I grabbed it and ran.  As I listened to it, I was fascinated by the family history and the storytelling weaved into the knitting throughout generations.  The magic part did turn me off a little but as the story went on, I realized the magic could be understood or believed in several ways.  The way I choose to look at it was as a means to help something/someone along.  I am not entirely sure it was magic but the thought of it or the coming together of people for a cause, that bonding was the real magic.  It was an interesting story of love, betrayal, family, traditions and the magic that ties it all together.

We carry this book in print format and MP3CD.

Vintage

I absolutely adored this story by Susan Gloss.  It made me want to go out and find a vintage shop around here and dress like Mad Men.  I loved how the characters, with separate stories, whose lives interweave full circle around each other, love and the vintage clothing shop.  I especially liked that each women, in each generation, were strong in their own way.  It is a book of second chances and happy endings--my favorite!

We carry this in physical book format only.  Enjoy!

Little Miss Lovesick

This quirky, fun, romantic comedy is by Kitty Bucholtz who grew up in this area.  I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good, clean read and is nostalgic about Northern Michigan (bonus!).  I would also recommend this book if you want to co-read with your teenage daughter--it's that clean and amusing.  I thought this book was going to be a little cheesy but I was glad I was wrong.  Anyone who has gone through heartache can relate to Sydney as she tries to overcome getting over Mr. Wrong.  You will find yourself responding to her confusion of attraction, humorous antics and somewhat klutzy attempts in recognizing Mr. Right.  Have fun with this romantic comedy.

We carry this book in print form only.  Oh, did I mention Kitty Bucholtz will be here at TADL May 21st?  She will! I can not wait.